THE  FACTOP^S  OF 
SHORTHAND  SPEED 

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SOUTHERN    ERANC, 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORI^^: 
LIBRARY 

LOS  ANGELES.  CALIF. 


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THE  FACTORS 

OF 

SHORTHAND  SPEED; 


OR 


HOW  TO    BECOME  A  STENOGRAPHIC 
EXPERT. 

A  Book  of  Practical  Aids  and  Suggestions  to  the  Student, 
the  Teacher,  and  the  Young  Reporter. 


BY 


DAVID  WOLFE  BROWN 

Late  Official  Reporter,  U.  S.  House  of  Representatives  j 

Author  of  ««  The  Mastery  of  Shorthand,"     "The  Learner's  Needless 
Burdens,"   "The  Hand  and   Its  Handicaps,"   "  What  Has 
Half  a  Century  Done  for  Shorthand?"      "The 
—  Rationale  of  Phrasing,"  etc. 


427?)n 


I9I0 
THE    GREGG     PUBLISHING    COMPANY 

New  York  Chicago 


"We  are  making  in  office  and  court  and  legislative  hall, 
the  reputation  and  the  future  of  shorthand  and  reporters. 
If  we  do  well,  we  shall  be  honored  and  well  paid ;  if  not, 
the  reverse.  Whatever  adds  to  our  skill  and  encourages  us 
all,  is  desirable.  Friendly  contests  in  skill  keep  alive  that 
'enthusiastic  perseverance  which  is  often  mistaken  for 
genius.'  I  believe  in  all  things  which  make  us  better  report- 
ers and  educate  people  as  to  what  a  Btenographer  ought  to 
be  able  to  do." — Fred  Irland. 


"The  race  of  the  accomplished  stenographer  after,  or  rather 
with,  the  rapid  and  cultivated  speaker,  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  spectacles  which  can  engage  the  attention  of  the 
mind.  There  is  an  indescribable  exhilaration  in  the  contest. 
Ce  n'est  pas  la  Vicioire  que  fait  la  joie  des  noble  coeurs;  c'esi 
le  Combat," — Eugene  Liavis. 


Copyright,  1897, 

By  David  Wolfe  Brown. 

Copyright,  1910, 

By  John  R.  Gbegq. 


Z53 


PUBLISHERS'  NOTE. 


**The  Factors  of  Shorthand  Speed"  has  long 
been  regarded  as  a  shorthand  classic.  Since  its 
author  died,  the  book  has  been  in  great  demand, 
and  copies  of  it  have  been  at  a  premium.  We 
consider  ourselves  fortunate  in  having  been  able 
to  purchase  the  copyright  from  the  heirs  of  Mr. 
Brown,  thereby  being  enabled  to  place  this  help- 
ful and  inspiring  book  in  the  hands  of  students 
and  writers  of  shorthand. 

While  much  of  the  advice  contained  in  "The 
Factors  of  Shorthand  Speed"  applies  to  the 
peculiarities  of  the  style  of  shorthand  most  in 
vogue  at  the  time  Mr.  Brown  acquired  the  art, 
and,  in  fact,  up  to  the  time  the  book  was  first 
published,  there  are  enough  helpful  suggestions 
of  a  general  nature  to  well  repay  perusal  by 
writers  of  any  system.  Not  a  line  in  the  original 
book  has  been  changed,  and  the  only  addition 
is  in  the  form  of  occasional  footnotes  containing 
comments  of  an  explanatory  nature. 

The  Gregg  Publishing  Company. 

New  York,  June  1,  1910. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


"The  Speed  Secret** 

It  is  a  sad  fact  that  many  a  student,  after  de- 
voting months  to  the  study  of  an  art  which 
temptingly  offers  itself  as  a  system  of  swift 
writing,  finds  himself  unable  to  use  the  art  with 
even  the  rapidity  of  longhand.  Other  students, 
somewhat  more  successful,  fail  after  long  con- 
tinued efforts  to  obtain  amanuensis  speed.  Still 
others,  possessing  for  months  or  years  the  skill 
of  the  office  stenographer,  find  themselves  con- 
stantly baffled  in  their  attempts  to  follow  some 
of  the  easiest  of  public  speakers.  The  young 
shorthand  writer,  aspiring  to  "speed,"  and  per- 
haps working  hard  to  secure  the  much-coveted 
prize,  feels  often  as  if  there  must  be  some 
"secret"  which  others  have  found,  but  which 
has  eluded  his  own  patient  search. 

Appealing  to  this  eager  desire  for  the  "speed 
secret,"  there  appear  from  time  to  time  men 
who  are  ready  "for  a  consideration"  to  com- 
municate some  "short  and  easy"  method  of  re- 

5 


6       THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

moving  the  ponderous  obstacles  that  block  the 
young  stenographer's  path.  While  I  write,  there 
lies  on  my  desk  a  pamphlet  purporting  to  come 
from  an  "ofScial  reporter,"  and  attractively 
styled  "The  Speed  Secret."  A  part  of  the  pre- 
cious information  which  this  pamphlet  offers  to 
the  world  for  the  paltry  sum  of  fifty  cents,  is  the 
following : 

"Good  speed  practice  for  the  hand  is  to  write 
the  figure  three  as  rapidly  as  possible.  You  will 
be  surprised  to  find  how  few  threes  you  can 
make  the  first  minute,  and  equally  surprised  to 
find  how  quickly  practice  increases  speed.  The 
sustained  precision  of  hand  required  to  make  a 
couple  of  hundred  threes  rapidly  is  just  what  is 
required  for  shorthand." 

But  the  "speed  secret"  is  not  always  offered  at 
so  low  a  price  as  fifty  cents.  There  lies  before 
me  another  version  of  the  "speed  secret,"  which 
(though  comprised  in  two  typewritten  pages) 
has  been  sold  to  many  a  "speed"  seeker  for  five 
dollars.  The  author's  advice  in  this  case  covers 
but  two  points :  First,  copy  over  and  over  again 
and  then  repeatedly  write  from  dictation,  some 
of  the  published  specimens  of  the  author's  short- 
hand; second,  take  care  that  the  dictation  is  al- 


INTRODUCTORY.  7 

f 

ways  about  five  words  a  minute  slower  than  the 
rate  at  which  you  can  write! 

Another  author  undertakes  to  show  "how 
great  a  gain  may  be  realized  by  writing  short- 
hand with  both  hands  simultaneously!"  "It  is 
evident,"  he  says,  "that  if  we  can  write  100 
words  per  minute  with  the  right  hand,  and  90 
with  the  left,  we  can  write  190  words  per  min- 
ute, provided  we  can  unite  the  capacity  of  the 
two  hands.  That  is  accomplished  by  emplojdng 
each  hand  to  write  each  alternate  word  of  a  pas- 
sage. For  example,  'To  be  contents  his  natural 
desire. '  *  To '  may  be  written  with  either  hand  ; 
but  we  will  suppose  it  is  written  with  the  left 
hand.  A  little  in  advance  'be'  may  be  written 
with  the  right  hand;  and  in  advance  of  this, 
'contents'  with  the  left;  then  'his'  with  the 
right;  'natural'  with  the  left  hand;  and  'desire' 
with  the  right  hand." 

Unfortunately  this  author  does  not  state  that 
he  or  any  one  else  has  ever  been  able  to  reduce 
this  scheme,  so  beautiful  in  theory,  to  actual 
practice. 

Sometimes  the  shorthand  student,  disappoint- 
ed again  and  again  in  his  efforts  to  write  rapid- 
ly, says  to  himself,  ' '  My  hand  will  move  only  so 


8   THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

fast,  and  not  fast  enough ;  I  must  make  my  head 
save  my  hand ;  I  will  learn  more  word-signs  and 
other  contractions."  Accordingly  he  sets  to 
himself  the  task  of  cramming  his  memory  with 
hundreds  and  hundreds  of  arbitrary  abbrevia- 
tions. And  too  often  the  result  is  only  renewed 
disappointment  and  discouragement.  Or  he  may 
say,  "  I  do  not  phrase  enough ;  phrases  are  great 
time-savers;  I  must  apply  myself  untiringly  to 
the  study  of  phrase-lists  and  phrasing  rules. ' '  So 
he  eagerlj"  buys,  and  patiently  tries  to  master, 
any  collection  of  "lightning  phrases"  that  may 
be  alluringly  offered  to  ambitious  students  like 
himself.  But  too  frequently,  after  industrious 
Aveeks  and  months  devoted  to  the  study  of 
phrasing,  the  longed-for  increase  of  speed  does 
not  appear. 

At  another  time  the  student  may  say,  "My 
shorthand  system  is  not  brief  enough ;  I  must 
discard  it  and  learn  another."  Or,  reduced  to  a 
still  more  despairing  condition,  he  may  reproach 
himself  with  the  reflection,  "I  have  no  natural 
adaptation  for  learning  shorthand ;  stenographic 
success  may  be  reached  by  others,  but  not  by 
me.  I  may  as  well  abandon  the  study  on  which 
I  have  expended  so  much  time  and  effort." 


INTRODUCTORY.  9 

In  view  of  such  difficulties  and  discourage- 
ments, is  it  any  wonder  that  weary  months  and 
even  years  are  frequently  spent  by  the  aspiring 
young  stenographer,  with  very  little  result  in 
the  way  of  speed  gained,  although  he  spares  in 
the  pursuit  neither  study  nor  labor  ?  In  attempt- 
ing the  by-no-means-easy  task  of  dealing  with 
these  various  phases  qf  the  student's  perplexity 
and  disheartenment,^  I  have  no  pretentious 
"speed  secret"  to  impart  as  a  simple  and  sov- 
ereign solution  of  every  student's  difficulties.  In 
order  to  become  a  rapid  writer,  the  young  sten- 
ographer must  comply  with  a  number  of  condi- 
tions which  cannot  be  communicated  in  a  few 
sentences,  or  a  few  pages.  Mistaken  methods  of 
study  and  practice  are  to  be  pointed  out  and  cor- 
rected. Good  habits  are  to  be  cultiyatedj  bad 
habits  to  be  unlearned.  Tasks  are  to  be  under- 
taken which  may  involve  much  time  and  labor. 
There  are,  too,  matters  apparently  trivial  to  be 
pressed  upon  the  student's  attention,  because 
nothing  can  be  trivial  which  contributes  to  his 
final  success.  If  this  book  shall  serve  its  in- 
tended purpose,  it  will  enable  many  a  baffled 
and  desponding  learner  to  discover  the  "secret" 
of  his  failure,  and  will  place  his  feet  on  the  path 


10     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

that  leads  to  the  coveted  goal.  It  will  seek  to 
set  guide-posts  along  his  course,  so  that  he  need 
not  go  astray.  It  will  point  out  prevalent  mis- 
takes and  wrong  habits.  It  will  give  direction 
and  advice  for  their  avoidance  or  correction.  It 
will  seek  to  anticipate  and  fully  answer  every 
question  thats  an  eager,  ambitious  learner  might 
wish  to  ask.  In  short,  it  will  aim  to  teach  him 
how  to  attain — not  without  labor,  but  with  no 
wasted  labor — the  highest  speed  that  his  educa- 
tion and  natural  faculties  fit  him  to  reach. 

"Can   I   Ever  Become  a  Speedy  Writer?" 

I  am  not  charlatan  enough  to  promise  to  every 
reader  of  these  pages  a  speed  of  200  or  250 
words  a  minute.  In  the  shorthand  profession, 
as  elsewhere,  Pope's  words  are  true: 

"Some  arc,  and  must  bo,  greater  tban  the  rest."  ^ 

But  ever}'  learner  who  will  faithfully  follow 
the  methods  here  pointed  out,  may  expect  a  de- 
cided increase  of  shorthand  speed.  To  what 
speed-altitudes  the  pursuit  of  these  methods 
may  finally  carry  him  depends  partly  upon  his 
dogged  perseverance  as  a  student,  and  partly 
upon  his  natural  adaptation  for  the  stenographic 
profession.  In  this,  as  well  as  in  other  branches 
of  study,  the  student's  capacity  can  be  deter- 


INTRODUCTORY.  il 

minded  only  by  a  fair  trial.  Such  a  trial  he  should 
be  willing  to  give,  in  justice  to  himself  and  the 
subject.  And  the  period  of  this  trial  must  not 
be  too  short.  The  final  measure  of  his  success, 
cannot  be  judged  by  the  progress  attained 
during  a  few  weeks  or  months.  And  even 
though  a  particular  student  may  not  have  that 
natural  adaptation  which  will  qualify  him  to  be- 
come a  "shining  light"  in  the  reporting  profes- 
sion, is  it  not  worth  his  while  to  gain  all  attain- 
able speed  by  learning  to  do  in  the  right  way 
things  he  has  been  doing  wrongly — by  learning 
to  practice  according  to  the  best  methods,  in- 
stead of  the  worst?  Supposing  he  can  write  at 
present  but  80  words  a  minute,  is  it  not  worth 
his  while  to  attain  120,  140  or  160,  even  though 
he  may  never  reach  200,  225  or  250?  Should  he 
not  use  reasonable  effort  to  make  out  of  himself 
as  a  shorthand  writer  all  that  can  be  made?  In 
the  fruits  of  this  effort,  he  may  find  the  satisfac- 
tion of  a  reasonable  ambition,  as  well  as  a  de- 
cided increase  of  his  wage-earning  capabilities. 

"What  Shorthand  System  Should  I  Learn?" 

The  most  important  prerequisite  for  becom- 
ing a  speedy  writer  is  that  the  shorthand  sys- 
tem  selected   shall   be   capable   of   high   speed. 


12     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

While  theorists  and  pretenders  are  flooding  the 
market  with  "new  and  easy"  methods,  many  of 
which  are  not  fit  for  amanuensis  work,  much 
less  for  reporting,  the  peril  of  a  mischoice  on 
this  point  overhangs  every  learner.  In  rare  cases 
a  man  of  extraordinary  talents  may  do  excellent 
reporting  by  means  of  a  poor  shorthand  sys- 
tem; but  this  simply  shows  the  power  of  genius 
to  do  its  work  with  tools  intrinsically  imperfect. 
The  ordinary  stenographic  student  cannot  af- 
ford to  apply  himself  to  the  study  of  an  inferior 
system,  with  the  probability  that  his  time  and 
labor  will  be  saved. 

It  is  highly  important  that  the  learner  should 
select  a  system  which  he  may  contentedly  write 
without  change  for  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
]\Iany  shorthand  students  take  up  one  system 
after  another,  thus  wasting  precious  time,  and 
necessarily  failing  to  become  rapid  writers;  for 
rapid  writing  depends  largely  upon  well-settled 
habits.  The  learner  should  choose  a  system  that 
he  can  ' '  tie  to. ' '  The  safe  rule  is  to  select  a  sys- 
tem which  is  written  by  a  large  number  of  prac- 
tical reporters,  and  the  text-books  of  which  ema- 
nate from  practical  men.  In  essaying  a  well-tried 
system,  expounded  by  men  who  have  successful- 


INTRODUCTORY.  13 

ly  used  it,  the  learner  can  scarcely  go  astray. 
He  should  be  especially  on  his  guard  against 
systems  invented  by  mere  theorists,  who  have 
never  demonstrated  by  their  own  practical  work 
the  value  of  their  inventions.* 

In  deciding  the  merits  of  rival  systems,  all  ar- 
guments founded  on  theoretical  considerations 
should  be  discarded.  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them."  The  touchstone  to  be  applied  to 
a  shorthand  system  is  comprised  in  the  ques- 
tions, Has  its  author  successfully  reported  with 
it  under  difficult  and  exacting  conditions  ?  Have 
any  considerable  number  of  others  ever  used  it 
in  the  same  way?  It  must  never  be  forgotten 
that  the  successful  use  of  a  shorthand  system 
by  one  man  or  a  few  men,  does  not  prove  its 
adaptation  to  successful  use  by  the  generality  of 
students.* 

And  a  wise  aspirant  to  shorthand  skill  will 
give  no  weight  to  the  certificates,  however  nu- 
merous, of  persons  who  testify  to  the  marvelous- 
ly  short  periods  of  time  within  which,  by  the 
practice  of  a  particular  system,  they  have  quali- 


*In  all  fairness  it  should  be  noted  that  the  system  written 
by  Mr.  Brown  was  invented  by  Isaac  Pitman,  who  was  ad- 
mittedly "a  mere  theorist."  The  "safe  rule"  and  the  "touch- 
stone" recommended  by  Mr.  Brown,  if  applied  to  the  Pitman 
system  when  it  was  published,  would  have  excluded  it  from 
consideration. — The  PuMishers. 


14      THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

fied  themselves  for  amanuensis  work.  A  system 
brief  enough  for  taking  ordinary  office  dictation 
may  be  far  too  cumbrous  for  anything  like  rapid 
reporting.  I  have  met  some  unfortunate  stenog- 
raphers who,  having  entered  upon  the  practice 
of  an  amanuensis  system  in  office  work,  have 
found  themselves  afterward  in  this  sad  plight: 
with  an  ambition  to  become  reporters,  they 
must  either  regretfully  renounce  that  ambition, 
or  they  must  for  a  considerable  time  give  up 
their  daily  source  of  income,  while  they  labori- 
ously forget  an  amanuensis  system,  and,  begin- 
ning shorthand  afresh,  learn  a  system  adequate 
for  keeping  pace  with  rapid  public  speaking.  For 
a  person  who  hopes  ever  to  become  a  reporter, 
it  is  the  poorest  kind  of  economy  to  spend  time 
upon  any  amanuensis  system,  however  glittering 
its  promises  of  speedily  giving  amanuensis  skill. 
Especially  should  the  student  beware  of  sys- 
tems which  are  attractively  offered  as  "new  and 
easy."  Their  pretended  novelty  is  generally  the 
revamping  of  ideas  that  have  been  long  ago  tried 
and  discarded.  Their  "ease"  arises  from  the 
meagerness  of  their  material  and  their  insuffi- 
ciency for  the  work  of  verbatim  reporting.  Any 
shorthand  system  that  promises  to  the  pupil  sue- , 
cess  in  a  remarkably  short  time  is  prima  facie 
a  fraud.  No  human  being  ever  acquired  with  very 
little  labor  the  art  of  stenographic  reporting. 


PREPARATORY  SHORTHAND 
TRAINING. 


A  proper  system  having  been  selected,  it  is 
all-important  that  the  student  should  make  no 
mistake  in  his  methods  of  study  and  practice.  If 
possible,  he  should  seek  the  guidance  of  a  thor- 
oughly competent  teacher,  who  will  stimulate 
and  encourage  him,  and  save  him  from  erron- 
eous habits  or  methods.  The  associations  and 
surroundings  of  a  good  school  are  vastly  help- 
ful. 

But  the  would-be  learner  of  shorthand  should 
be  carefully  on  his  guard  against  teachers  who 
promise  to  accomplish  wonderful  results  in  a 
very  short  time.  If  unable  to  secure  the  services 
of  a  competent,  conscientious  teacher,  the  stu- 
dent should,  if  possible,  induce  some  friend  or 
friends  to  pursue  the  study  along  with  him.  In 
this  way  interest  will  be  better  maintained,  and 
improvement  more  rapidly  made,  than  by  soli- 
tary application. 

15 


16     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 
The  Foundation  Must  Be  Well  Laid. 

A  serious  and  often  fatal  mistake  made  by 
the  majority  of  learners  is  that,  in  their  eager- 
ness to  reach  the  advanced  portions  of  the  sys- 
tem— "to  write  as  reporters  write" — the  rudi- 
mentary principles  are  studied  too  hurriedly  and 
superficially.  If  the  fundamental  abbreviating 
rules,  in  accordance  with  which  a  majority  of  the 
words  of  the  language  are  always  to  be  written, 
should  be  skimmed  over  in  the  ''hop,  skip  and 
jump"  fashion  of  too  many  learners,  the  result 
cannot  but  be  disappointing.  By  dwelling  upon 
these  word-building  principles  until  they  become 
instinctively  familiar,  the  learner  is  not  delay- 
ing, but  is  hastening,  his  acquisition  of  reporting 
speed.  A  person  is  a  good  or  a  bad  stenographic 
student,  and  ultimately  a  good  or  a  bad  reporter, 
in  proportion  as  he  masters,  or  fails  to  master, 
these  fundamental  abbreviating  rules.  There 
may  be  many  things  in  his  text-book  that  he  can 
afford  to  "skip,"  but  none  of  these  foundation 
principles  must  be  slighted.  The  prime  quali- 
fication of  a  good  stenographer  is  that,  when 
pressed  for  speed,  he  shall  be  able  to  write  read- 
ily, and  with  at  least  approximate  correctness, 
any  ordinary  English  word,  though  it  may  be  of 


PREPARATORY  SHORTHAND  TRAINING.     17 

difficult  construction  and  he  may  never  have 
written  it  before.  The  ability  to  do  this*  arises 
from  a  thorough  familiarity  with  those  princi- 
ples to  which  the  student  is  introduced  during 
the  first  few  months  of  his  study.  Startling  as 
it  may  seem  to  some  who  think  that  the  whole 
or  the  principal  strength  of  a  shorthand  system 
lies  in  its  ''advanced  reporting  expedients,"  I 
affirm  that  when  the  student,  by  faithful  elemen- 
tary study,  has  acquired  the  power  of  promptly 
writing  new  words  according  to  principle,  the 
most  laborious  and  the  most  valuable  part  of  his 
reporting  equipment  has  been  acquired.  The 
matters  that  remain  to  be  learned — a  certain 
number  of  logograms,  a  certain  number  of  dis- 
tinctions between  words  by  differences  of  out- 
line or  position,  a  certain  amount  of  phrase 
knowledge — these  will  require  far  less  applica- 
tion, and,  so  far  as  not  acquired,  ma}^  be  more 
safely  dispensed  with,  than  any  part  of  the  fun- 
damental knowledge  and  ability  which  have 
thus  been  mastered.  It  is  this  familiarity  with 
fundamental  word-building  principles  that  en- 
ables the  accomplished  reporter  to  write  new 
and  strange  words  without  loss  of  time  and 
without   getting    ''rattled."     These    new    and 


18  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

strange  words  lie  is  constantly  liable  to  meet  till 
the  last  day  of  his  reporting  life. 

Some  Things  "Speed   Practice"  Cannot  Do. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  misnamed  "speed 
practice"  has  no  magical  power  to  fill  gaps  in 
rudimentary  study.  Kules  never  mastered  sin- 
gly can  never  be  applied  promptly  when  called 
for  in  combination.  Nor  can  "speed  practice" 
give  agility  of  hand  so  long  as  a  hesitating  and 
half-recollecting  mind  cannot  promptly  supply 
the  hand  with  the  material  upon  which  agility 
might  be  developed. 

The  student  must  be  especially  warned  against 
slighting  or  omitting  those  principles  of  the  sys- 
tem which,  as  he  maj^  think,  will  be  rarely  called 
for.  If  called  for  at  all,  however  rarely,  they 
need  to  be  as  familiar  as  any  other  part  of  the 
system.  The  failure  to  have  them  at  one's  fin- 
gers' ends  may  at  some  critical  moment  cause  a 
mortifying  "break-down." 

Teachers  and  pupils  too  often  content  them- 
selves ^^-ith  a  superficial  study  of  the  "vowels." 
Misled  by  the  fact  that  the  "reporting  style"  is 
largely  an  unvoealized  style,  that  the  vowels,  be- 
ing rarely  needed  by  the  reporter,  will  be  at  a 


PREPARATORY  SHORTHAND  TRAINING.     19 

certain  stage  of  practice  dropped  in  large  degree 
by  the  learner,  teachers  and  pupils  too  often 
assume  that  a  slight  or  hesitating  knowledge  of 
"vocalization"  will  suffice.  There  can  scarcely 
be  a  more  lamentable  and  disastrous  error.  The 
experience  of  every  reporter  in  regard  to  "vo- 
calization" is  similar  to  that  of  the  Texan  in 
regard  to  his  revolver :  "  he  does  not  often  want 
it,  but  when  he  wants  it,  he  wants  it  bad." 
Every  reporter  knows  that,  though  he  seldom 
inserts  vowels,  he  must  be  able  to  insert  them 
instantaneously  when  new  and  strange  words 
require  them.  The  stenographer,  however  dili- 
gent, has  only  half  mastered  his  task,  if  he  has 
not  mastered  the  art  of  instantaneous  vowel- 
placing. 

Neat  Writing  an  Imperative  Need. 

It  hardly  need  be  said  that  the  student  should 
aim  from  the  start  to  write  neatly,  and  espe- 
cially to  observe  the  distinction  between  light 
strokes  and  heavy.  This  distinction,  which  is 
so  great  a  help  toward  legibility,  can  be  kept 
up  even  in  rapid  writing,  if  the  habit  of  ob- 
serving it  be  established  by  careful  practice  in 
the  beginning.  However  hard  it  may  be  to  re- 
strain the  premature  eagerness  of  the  pupil  for 


20  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

"speed,"  and  however  difficult  to  induce  him  to 
execute  his  characters  slowly  enough  to  insure 
their  correct  form,  inclination  and  thickness, 
this  is  a  requirement  which  cannot  be  waived, 
if,  when  he  becomes  a  practicing  stenographer, 
he  is  to  read  his  notes  with  facility  and  cer- 
tainty. 

"Make   Haste   Slowly,"   But    Don't    Dawdle. 

Yet,  while  undue  haste  is  to  be  discouraged, 
especially  the  haste  which  induces  superficial, 
instead  of  thorough,  study  of  the  rudiments,  it 
is  important  that  the  student  should  not  acquire 
during  his  early  practice  a  sluggish  habit  of 
hand  and  mind.  The  maxim,  "Make  haste  slow- 
ly," so  often  pressed  upon  beginners  in  short- 
hand, may  be  seriously  misunderstood  and  mis- 
applied. There  being  in  the  student's  early  ex- 
ercises no  pressure  for  speed,  he  feels  that,  with 
abundant  leisure,  he  may  take  his  own  time  in 
pondering  and  hesitating.  Thus  there  may  grow 
up  a  dawdling  habit  of  mind,  unless  even  the 
beginner  is  urged,  not  to  a  hasty,  but  a  prompt 
decision.  So,  too,  being  instructed  to  shape  his 
characters  carefully  and  to  "think  nothing  of 
speed,"  the  student  too  often  acquires,  if  I  may 


PREPARATORY  SHORTHAND  TRAINING.    21 

SO  express  it,  a  drawling  style  of  execution. 
Each  stroke  is  traced  or  drawn  with  painful 
slowness.  Thus  there  may  be  too  much  of  leis- 
urely deliberation  in  thinking  what  is  to  be  writ- 
ten, and  too  finical  or  over-scrupulous  care  in 
writing  it.  It  is  therefore  in  many  cases  advis- 
able, or  even  necessary,  to  put  a  live  coal  on  the 
back  of  the  tortoise — to  remind  even  the  beginner 
that  shorthand  is  an  instrument  for  writing  fast, 
which  implies  mental  and  manual  quickness. 
The  teacher,  while  seeking  to  make  accurate 
shorthand  writers,  must  not  allow  learners  to  ac- 
quire a  dawdling  habit  of  mind  and  hand — a  de- 
liberateness,  stiffness  and  preciseness  of  style 
entirely  out  of  place  in  following  a  speaker. 

Ofif-Hand  Word-Writing. 

As  a  means  of  averting  sluggish  habits  of 
mind  and  hand,  and  as  a  most  important  dis- 
cipline in  other  respects,  nothing  can  be  more 
beneficial  to  the  student  than  to  write  off-hand 
from  dictation,  words  upon  which  he  has  had  no 
previous  practice,  but  which  can  be  correctly 
written  in  accordance  with  the  principles  he  is 
learning  or  is  supposed  to  have  mastered.  These 
exercises  cannot  be  too  copious,  if  the  words  be 


22     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

properly  chosen.  The  student  of  course  should 
not  be  called  upon  to  write  any  word  whose 
proper  outline  is  constructed  according  to  prin- 
ciples yet  to  be  acquired,  or  any  word  for  which 
a  word-sign  is  subsequently  provided.  As  the 
learner  proceeds  with  the  study  of  the  principles, 
these  dictation  exercises  should  be  adapted  to 
the  successive  stages  of  his  progress.  The  words 
dictated  may  call  into  play,  not  one  principle 
alone,  but  several  principles  already  familiarized. 
Sometimes  a  single  word  may  illustrate  two  or 
three  abbreviating  rules. 

Reporting   Habits  Should   Begin   Early. 

If  all  the  common  words  which  may  be  writ- 
ten by  the  application  of  the  given  principle 
be  introduced  under  that  principle  as  practice- 
words,  the  student,  besides  mastering  the  prin- 
ciple, acquires  a  prompt  command  of  many  com- 
mon outlines,  and  thus  gradually  and  with  little 
effort  he  accumulates  a  "reporting  vocabulary." 
^Moreover,  this  species  of  practice,  early  begun 
and  faithfully  continued,  cultivates  the  faculty 
of  prompt  decision,  and  prepares  the  student 
from  the  start  for  what  he  is  finally  to  do — to 
hear  and  write  simultaneously.     It  nurtures,  too, 


PREPARATORY  SHORTHAND  TRAINING.     23 

the  spirit  of  self-reliance,  pricelessly  valuable 
to  the  stenographer,  who  should  be  so  educated 
that  when  ^n  uncommon  word  is  to  be  written, 
he  may  attack  it  fearlessly,  not  stopping  to  in- 
quire hesitatingly  and  helplessly,  "What  out- 
line does  my  text-book  or  my  shorthand  diction- 
ary give?" 

This  dictation  practice  upon  each  principle  in 
its  turn  should  be  so  thorough  that  any  word 
calling  for  the  application  of  that  principle, 
may  be  written  without  a  particle  of  hesitation, 
though  it  may  never  have  been  written  before. 
Indeed,  unhesitating  promptitude  of  execution 
within  the  domain  of  the  principle  undertaken 
to  be  acquired,  should  from  the  start  be  the  test 
as  to  whether  the  principle  has  been  mastered, 
and  whether  the  student  is  making  healthy 
progress. 

Of  course,  in  thus  writing  words  off-hand  from 
dictation,  the  student  must  not  allow  himself  to 
be  pushed  into  executing  the  shorthand  charac- 
ters badly.  At  this  stage  he  is  not  to  expect  of 
himself  much  manual  facility.  The  object  to 
be  sought  is  the  prompt  action  of  the  mind,  with 
ready  (not  necessarily  rapid)  action  of  the  hand 
— the  avoidance  of  that  serious  loss  from  which 


24     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

beginners  and  even  advanced  students  so  com- 
monly suffer — ^the  painfully-prolonged  gap  be- 
tween hearing  and  writing — the  time-consuming 
pause  while  the  hand  awaits  the  decision  of  the 
mind. 

This  dictation  practice  should  by  no  means 
dispense  with  the  more  deliberate  writing  of 
words  from  ordinary  print,  or  the  copying  of 
symmetrical  shorthand  in  order  to  train  eye  and 
hand  to  correctness  of  form.  Words  previously 
written  from  dictation  may  be  carefully  writ- 
ten without  dictation  pressure,  in  order  that  er- 
rors committed  in  dictation  practice  may  be 
corrected,  and  that  the  student  may  not  form 
the  habit  of  writing  carelessly  and  illegibly. 

It  is  desirable  that  the  writing  of  discon- 
nected words  or  any  other  single  line  of  practice 
should  not  be  carried  to  such  a  point  as  to  be- 
come monotonous.  Specially-constructed  sen- 
tence-exercises should  be  introduced  as  early  as 
practicable ;  and  the  memorizing  of  useful  word- 
signs  may  proceed  gradually  from  the  start. 

In  these  preliminary  stages  of  his  shorthand 
education,  the  student  should  aim  to  acquire 
those  correct  writing  habits — the  proper  hold- 
ing of  the  pen,  the  right  position  at  the  desk,  etc. 


PREPARATORY  SHORTHAND  TRAINING.     25 

— upon  which  his  ultimate  speed  as  a  writer  may 
largely  depend. 

Memorizing  of  Word-Signs,  Etc. 

\  It  is  highly  important  that,  whatever  the  stu- 
qent  undertakes  to  memorize,  should  be  memor- 
ized thoroughly.  From  half-reeoUection  comes 
hesitation;  and  from  hesitation  comes  loss  of 
speed.  In  order  that  everything  undertaken  in 
the  way  of  memorization  may  be  thoroughly 
done,  the  student  should  make  it  a  rule  not  to 
attempt  to  learn  more  than  a  little  at  a  time,  and 
to  learn  that  little  well.  Especially  in  the  study 
of  the  word-signs,  most  students  undertake  to 
learn  too  many  at  once.  It  cannot  be  too  often 
repeated  that  in  shorthand,  whatever  needs  to 
be  memorized  at  all,  needs  to  be  so  mastered 
that  it  may  come  instantly  to  the  mind  and  fin- 
gers whenever  wanted.  If  too  many  word-signs 
are  undertaken  at  one  time,  the  memory  is  "con- 
fused, and  the  student's  progress  retarded.y 

As  the  best  method  of  learning  the  word-signs, 
Mr.  Bernard  De  Bear,  the  well-known  English 
reporter  and  teacher,  has  suggested  the  follow- 
ing: 

**Take  a  double  sheet  of  foolscap  and  fold  it 


26     THE  FACTORS  OF  SBORTHAND  SPEED. 

over  into  folds  which  will  give  about  twelve  divi- 
sions in  all  Copy  from  the  text-book  neatly  and 
carefully  the  signs  you  are  about  to  learn,  one 
on  each  line.  Having  thus  filled  the  first  col- 
umn, close  the  book,  and  endeavor  at  once  from 
memory  to  transcribe  into  longhand  in  column 
two.  The  words  having  only  just  been  copied, 
this  should  prove  no  difficult  task;  but  any 
blanks  should  be  filled  in  from  the  key  and  un- 
derlined, to  denote  that  the  signs  were  not  re- 
membered. This  done,  fold  under  column  one, 
so  as  to  leave  only  the  longhand  words  in  col- 
umn two  visible,  and  transcribe  those  into  short- 
hand in  column  three,  so  nearly  as  the  memory 
will  allow  Gaps  can  now  be  filled  in  from  col- 
umn one,  which,  however,  should  not  be  resorted 
to  until  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  work 
through  the  entire  list.  Then  retranseribe  the 
shorthand  lines  on  column  four.  And  so  on  to 
the  end — shorthand  into  longhand,  and  vice 
versa  It  may  be  guaranteed  that  by  the  time 
the  twelve  columns  have  all  been  filled  in  the 
manner  indicated,  that  particular  set  of  words 
or  phrases  will  have  been  almost  thoroughly 
mastered  I  have  tried  this  plan  with  the  dull- 
est of  pupils,  with  those  whose  memories  seemed 


PREPARATORY  SHORTHAND  TRAINING.    27 

to  be  an  altogether  unknown  quantity,  and  I  have 
rarely  known  it  to  fail.  I  have  since  used  it  in 
other  than  phonographic  studies,  and  always 
with  equal  success." 

In  learning  abbreviating  principles,  word- 
signs,  or  any  other  portions  of  the  shorthand 
"system,"  the  learner  must  not  overlook  the  im- 
portance of  constant  review.  However  well,  as 
he  may  think,  his  previous  tasks  have  been  mas- 
tered, the  need  of  unremitting  review  is  impera- 
tive. It  is  too  often  assumed  blindly  that  what 
was  known  last  week  or  last  month  must  as  a 
matter  of  course  be  well  known  to-day. 

Repeated  Copying  of  Correct  Shorthand. 

When  the  principles  of  the  system  and  a  rea- 
sonable number  of  word-signs  have  been  learned, 
an  important  step  in  preparing  for  "speed  prac- 
tice" is  to  copy  over  and  over  again  matter  care- 
fully written  or  printed  for  the  student's  use  in 
the  "reporting  style,"  and  when  a  page  or  two 
have  become  fully  familiarized,  to  write  the 
matter  from  dictation  in  exact  conformity  to 
the  original  and  with  as  much  rapidity  as  may 
be  possible  without  writing  illegibly.  In  thus 
copying  from  the  shorthand  original — ^not  from 


28     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

ordinary  print  or  from  the  student's  own  notes — 
the  eye,  the  hand,  and  the  memory  are  simul- 
taneously trained.  The  learner  unconsciously 
imitates  the  symmetrical  characters  from  which 
he  copies.  He  also  stores  his  memory  with  the 
best  outlines  for  those  common  words  and 
phrases  which  are  to  form  a  large  proportion  of 
his  future  writing.  Thus  he  is  in  great  measure 
relieved  from  tedious  study  of  text-book  lists  of 
word-signs,  phrases,  and  words  of  peculiar  out- 
lines. By  writing  from  dictation  at  steadily-in- 
creasing speed  the  matter  thus  memorized,  he 
acquires  also  a  constantly-growing  facility  of 
hand,  which  cannot  be  cultivated  by  the  slow 
methods  of  manipulation  ordinarily  indulged 
before  "speed  practice"  begins. 


"SPEED  PRACTICE." 


Speed,  or  at  least  the  semblance  of  speed,  may 
be  purchased  at  too  high  a  price.  The  student 
entering  upon  "speed  practice "  should  determine 
that  he  will  not  sacrifice  in  the  pursuit  of  speed 
other  desirable  things,  without  which  mere  speed 
will  be  of  little  value.  As  has  been  well  said  by 
an  accomplished  phonographer  and  most  instruc- 
tive writer  (the  late  Fred  Pitman),  **It  is  a 
misfortune  to  a  phonographic  writer  when  speed 
is  attained  apart  from  other  excellencies.  Its 
acquisition  ought  to  progress  simultaneously 
with  the  development  of  other  powers.  A  whole 
phalanx  of  excellencies  should  advance  together. 
Accuracy  of  form;  a  good,  smooth  method  of 
writing ;  facility  in  reading  notes ;  the  ability  to 
transcribe  notes  neatly,  quickly  and  with  scrup- 
ulous fidelity ;  the  capacity,  when  pressed  beyond 
one's  pace,  to  catch  the  sense  and  record  it,  at 
the  possible  risk  of  losing  a  few  words,  or  possi- 
bly some  fine  phrases — these  and  many  other  at- 
tainments ought  to  advance  abreast." 

29 


30     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 
When  Should  "Speed  Practice"  Begin? 

A  most  serious  mistake  is  very  commonly 
made  in  entering  upon  ' '  speed  practice ' '  prema- 
turely. Very  often  the  student  who  says,  "Oh, 
I  understand  the  principles  of  the  system,  and 
all  I  want  now  is  speed  practice,"  is  in  such  an 
ill-tutored  condition  that  "speed  practice"  can 
do  him  no  good  and  may  do  him  much  harm. 

In  warning  the  student  against  premature 
"speed  practice,"  I  do  not  include  in  my  warn- 
ing every  kind  of  writing  from  dictation.  To 
write  from  dictation  copious  lists  of  separate 
words  (suitably  selected)  as  a  means  of  master- 
ing the  rules  which  they  illustrate,  has  already 
been  strongly  recommended  as  an  exercise  which 
should  commence  almost  with  the  student's  first 
lesson,  and  should  be  ceaselessly  continued  until 
each  abbreviating  principle  can  be  unhesitating- 
ly applied  in  every  appropriate  case.  To  write 
rapidly  from  dictation,  sentence-matter  in  "the 
reporting  style,"  which  has  been  thoroughly 
memorized  by  repeated  copying  from  correct 
models,  has  also  been  strongly  recommended. 
Both  these  methods  of  practice  are  highly  im- 
portant as  a  preparation  for  "speed  practice," 
which  term,   for  the   sake   of  convenience   and 


"SPEED    PRACTICE."  31 

clearness,  I  confine  to  dictation  practice  upon 
letters,  speeches  or  other  sentence-matter,  abso- 
lutely new  and  untried. 

In  order  that  "speed  practice,"  thus  denned, 
may  be  beneficial,  the  student  should  in  the  first 
place  understand  so  well,  not  in  theory  alone, 
but  in  practice,  the  abbreviating  principles  of 
the  system,  that  he  can  write  in  some  legible 
way  (not  necessarily  the  very  best  way),  and 
with  but  slight,  if  any,  hesitation,  any  word  of 
only  ordinary  difficulty,  though  he  may  never 
have  written  it  before.  If  he  cannot  do  this,  the 
rudimentary  principles  of  the  system  have  not 
been  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  term  mastered, 
and  the  student,  instead  of  indulging  the  delu- 
sion that  all  he  needs  is  "speed  practice,"  should 
at  once  turn  back  to  those  abbreviating  princi- 
ples which  he  has  evidently  gone  over  too  slight- 
ingly (the  principles  included  in  what  is  com- 
monly called  "the  corresponding  style"  of  short- 
hand), and  should  not  leave  them  till  he  has 
them,  not  simply  in  his  head,  but  literally  at  his 
fingers'  ends.  Irksome  as  this  discipline  may  be, 
it  is  absolutely  essential  to  the  making  of  a  rapid 
writer. 

In  the  second  place,  before  beginning  "speed 


32     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

practice,"  the  student  should  be  able  to  write 
all  the  frequently-recurring  words  of  the  lan- 
guage (including  all  the  common  word-signs), 
with  their  best  outlines,  and  absolutely  without 
hesitation.  This  prompt  knowledge  of  ordinary 
outlines  (complete  or  contracted)  should  have 
been  acquired,  not  mainly,  if  at  all,  by  the  tedi- 
ous study  of  repelling  word-lists,  but  by  the  re- 
currence of  these  common  and  necessary  word- 
forms  in  the  well-seleoted  ' '  reporting  style ' '  mat- 
ter which  we  suppose  the  student  (before  enter- 
ing upon  ''speed  practice")  to  have  memorized 
by  repeated  copying,  and  to  have  written  over 
and  over  from  dictation. 

Before  entering  on  "speed  practice,"  the  stu- 
dent should  also  be  able  to  write  with  no  less 
promptness  all  those  every-day  phrases  which 
no  reporter  fails  to  use  (whatever  his  abstract 
views  on  the  question  of  phrasing) — such  phrases 
as  "you  are,"  "it  is."  "I  am,"  "it  may  be," 
etc.  These  common  phrase-forms  the  learner 
should  have  acquired  from  the  copying  and  dic- 
tation practice  just  mentioned,  not  by  the  study 
of  vastly-extended  phrase-lists  or  by  the  ex- 
ercise of  liis  own  inventive  powers  operating 
under  the  guidance  of  fine-drawn  and  over- 
elaborated  phrasing  rules. 


"SPEED    PRACTICE."  33 

The  student's  preparation  ought  to  be  such  as 
to  enable  him  to  begin  "speed  practice"  with  a 
speed  of  at  least  sixty  or  seventy  words  a  min- 
ute. Usually,  if  he  undertakes  '  *  speed  practice ' ' 
at  a  lower  rate  than  this  (as,  for  instance,  as  is 
very  commonly  done,  at  thirty  or  forty  words  a 
minute),  he  is  attempting  to  learn  from  "speed 
practice"  things  that  he  should  have  learned  be- 
fore entering  upon  such  practice — things  that 
can  be  far  better  learned  in  other  ways,  and  that 
indeed  mere  "speed  practice"  can  never  teach. 
If  there  are  those  who  doubt  the  possibility  of 
acquiring  a  speed  of  sixty  or  seventy  words  a 
minute  without  dictation  practice,  let  them  turn 
to  the  "Phonographic  Magazine"  for  March  1, 
1896,  where  they  will  find  Mr.  A.  J.  Weeks  testi- 
fying: "I  took  my  first  position  without  ever 
having  had  a  word  dictated  to  me  save  when  I 
applied  for  the  position,  having  gained  my  speed 
by  copying  and  recopying  [the  shorthand]  from 
the  "Phonographic  Magazine." 

Repetition  Practice  Must  Not  Be  Given  Up. 

Even  after  dictation  upon  new  matter  has  be- 
gun (and  of  course  much  practice  upon  new 
matter  is  needed  by  the  student,  for  it  is  new 
matter  which  he  will  be  required  to  take  fear- 


34     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

lessly  when  he  enters  upon  actual  work — not 
matter  previously  memorized  or  on  which  he 
has  been  previously  "coached"),  repetition  prac- 
tice upon  memorized  matter  should  be  persist- 
ently continued.  The  benefits  of  such  practice, 
in  training  the  eye  and  the  hand  of  the  learner 
to  correctness  of  form,  in  giving  him  large  con- 
tributions to  his  "reporting  vocabulary,"  and  es- 
pecially in  cultivating  that  facile  movement  of 
the  fingers,  hand  and  arm,  without  which  the 
highest  speed  can  never  be  attained,  have  al- 
ready been  pointed  out.  In  writing  from  dicta- 
tion matter  already  memorized,  he  can  "get  up 
speed,"  as  he  cannot  upon  matter  written  for 
the  first  time ;  for  so  long  as  there  is  constant 
and  anxious  thought  as  to  word-forms,  phrase- 
forms,  etc.,  the  hand  lags  and  lingers  at  a  pace 
far  slower  than  it  is  capable  of  attaining.  Agil- 
ity of  hand  can  only  be  attained  when  the  mind 
by  prompt  conceptions  urges  the  hand  to  do  its 
best.  Moreover  (and  this  is  a  most  important 
consideration),  when  the  writer  is  able  to  with- 
draw a  large  part  of  his  attention  from  the  mat- 
ter written,  he  can  watch  his  own  writing  hab- 
its, and  can  thus  observe  and  correct  his  faults 
of  manipulation,  which  otherwise  must  escape 
his  attention. 


"SPEED    PRACTICE."  35 

**The  Fingers  Move  Mechanically  to  the  Sound." 

One  of  the  older  stenographic  authors,  Sam- 
uel Nelson — who  published  his  "Parliamentary 
and  Forensic  Shorthand  Writer"  in  1836,  just 
one  year  before  Isaac  Pitman  issued  the  first 
edition  of  Phonography  under  the  title  "Sound- 
Hand" — has  aptly  remarked  that,  in  acquiring 
shorthand,  "the  fingers  are  learning  a  new  lan- 
guage"; and  for  this  reason,  he  says,  the  stu- 
dent should  "never  omit  repeating  or  rewriting 
what  has  been  previously  written,  until  the  fin- 
gers move  mechanically  to  the  sound."  This 
language  most  happily  expresses  the  goal  for 
which  the  young  shorthand  writer  is  to  strive. 
Until  his  "fingers  move  mechanically  to  the 
sound, ' '  he  must  inevitably  write  laboriously  and 
slowly. 

That  prolific  and  acute  shorthand  author,  the 
late  Andrew  J.  Graham,  has  recommended  in 
one  of  his  early  works  that  the  student  commit 
some  exercise  to  memory  and  write  it  speedily 
hundreds  of  times.  "This  practice,"  he  says, 
"will  give  ease  and  celerity  of  movement  to  the 
hand." 

"Teach  the  Hand  How  to  Move  Along." 

Another  most  accomplished  stenographer  and 
shorthand  author,  already  referred  to — Mr.  Fred 


36     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

Pitman — in  emphasizing  the  same  idea,  has  gone 
so  far  as  to  say,  "The  speed  realized  in  writing 
one  sentence  at  a  tolerably  rapid  pace  will  grad- 
ually influence  the  pace  of  all  that  the  student 
writes ;  the  speed  thus  gained  gives  the  mind  the 
right  idea,  and  teaches  the  hand  how  to  move 
along."  The  fact  that  dictation  practice  upon 
matter  previously  memorized  ''teaches  the  hand 
how  to  move  along"  is  one  of  the  strongest  rea- 
sons for  urging  it  upon  the  aspirant  for  speed. 

Expressing  in  still  another  form  the  same 
thought — the  value  of  indefinite  repetition  as 
applied  to  dictation  practice — that  eminent  Con- 
gressional reporter,  Mr.  Fred  Irland,  has  re- 
marked: "There  is  forever  the  plain,  straight 
road  which  will  lead  to  success:  write  and  re- 
write a  correctly-expressed  exercise,  say,  one 
thousand  words  (like  the  testimony  of  a  witness 
or  an  extract  from  a  political  speech),  until  the 
patient  friend  who  reads  it  is  a  fit  candidate  for 
the  lunatic  asylum.  Repeat  it  five  hundred 
times,  if  need  be ;  and  the  general  speed  will  be 
found  to  increase."  Mr.  Irland  further  says: 
"We  write  too  many  different  exercises  at  first. 
Gtet  the  hand  in  the  way  of  writing  some  exercise 


"SPEED    PRACTICE."  37 

in  shorihand  as  readily  as  longhand  is  written; 
then  try  something  else;  and  soon  one  will  find 
that  he  has  become  familiar  with  all  the  com- 
mon words  of  English  speech,  and  that  he  can 
write  them  with  no  more  effort  than  is  required 
in  the  lifting  of  the  pen." 

A  Distinguished  Congressman  Testifies. 

Similar  testimony  is  jgiven  by  Hon.  R.  R.  Hitt, 
now  a  distinguished  Member  of  Congress,  but 
in  earlier  life  eminent  as  a  reporter,  having  re- 
ported before  the  late  war  the  famous  debate 
between  Stephen  A.  Douglas  and  Abraham  Lin- 
coln. After  telling  how  he  acquired  his  first 
knowledge  of  Pitman's  Phonography,  how  it 
helped  him  at  college,  and  how  it  secured  him  a 
very  attractive  offer  of  employment  from  a  New 
Orleans  newspaper,  Mr.  Hitt  says:  "Having 
leisure  at  the  time,  I  at  once  gave  systematic  at- 
tention to  practice,  aiming  chiefly  to  attain  ac- 
curacy and  the  perfection  of  every  character; 
writing  from  dictation  an  hour  at  a  time  without 
any  pause  or  hurry;  repeating  the  same  dicta- 
tion until  every  character  was  familiarized  by  a 
hundred  repetitions — leaving  speed  to  come  when 
it  would."      „ 

4r2?00 


38     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

Many  a  zealous  shorthand  student  would  much 
earlier  become  a  rapid  writer,  if  he  were  content 
w^hile  pursuing  right  methods,  to  "leave  speed 
to  come  when  it  would. ' '  Wherever  remarkable 
shorthand  speed  has  been  attained,  it  will  gen- 
erally be  found  to  be  due  to  some  such  practice 
as  Mr.  Hitt  and  Mr.  Irland  have  so  well  de- 
scribed. 

How  a  High-Speed  Certificate  Was  Won. 

Take,  for  instance,  the  case  of  Mr.  George  W. 
Bunbury,  of  England,  the  young  man  who  holds 
the  Isaac  Pitman  certificate  for  a  speed  of  250 
words  a  minute.*  Having  first  secured  a  certifi- 
cate for  230  words  a  minute,  ]Mr.  Bunbury  as- 
pired to  still  higher  speed;  and  he  tells  us  how 
he  attained  it.  Here  is  his  language:  "When  I 
had  won  the  230  words  certificate,  I  set  about 
practicing  again,  my  object  being  to  obtain  a  250 
words  certificate.     From  the  end  of  April  to  the 

♦Since  this  was  writton  It  lias  been  shown  that  the  Isaac 
Pitman  "Speed  Certificates"  ret'i^rred  to  by  Mr.  Brown  are 
utterly  wortliless.  The  Scottish  Phonographic  Association, 
which  was  described  by  the  late  Sir  Isaac  Pitman  as  "first 
in  the  Kingdom  for  the  vigorous  propagation  of  Phono- 
graphy," issued  a  report  explaining  why  it  had  discontinued 
holding  examinations  for  the  "Speed  Certificates."  An  in- 
vestigation by  a  committee  appointed  by  the  association  had 
shown  that  the  certificatrs  were  granted  by  Isaac  Pitman 
&  Sons  even  when  candid.s1es  had  failed  to  pass  the  test. 
Nevertheless  these  alleged  higli  speed  records  based  on  the 
"Speed  Certificates"  granted  by  Isaac  Pitman  &  Sons  are 
being   used    for   advertising  jnirposes. — The  Publishers. 


"SPEED    PRACTICE."  39 

end  of  August,  I  practiced  steadily  without  re- 
gard to  speed,  in  order  to  form  the  characters 
regularly.  The  matter  I  had  then  dictated  to 
me  consisted  of  the  'Strand  Magazine,'  books  of 
adventure,  etc.  At  the  beginning  of  September 
I  began  working  for  the  250  certificate ;  and  the 
method  I  employed,  with  successful  results,  was 
as  follows:  Having  taken  a  leading  article  or 
speech  from  a  paper  or  book,  I  counted  out  ten 
minutes  or  perhaps  more  at  the  rate  required ;  I 
then  had  it  read  to  me  in  the  time,  after  which 
I  proceeded  to  transcribe  or  read  what  I  had 
written,  circling  each  outline  or  phrase  which  I 
had  formed  badly  or  which  looked  shakj'-.  These 
outlines  and  phrases  I  carefully  noted  in  a  small 
book  which  I  carried  about  with  me  for  that 
purpose ;  and,  when  an  opportunity  presented  it- 
self, I  wrote  and  re-wrote  them  until  I  acquired 
the  greatest  possiible  facility  in  forming  them. 
The  next  night  I  was  able  to  take  the  same  piece 
with  much  greater  ease,  and  to  make  my  notes 
much  better.  The  following  night  I  increased 
the  speed  slightly,  bearing  in  mind,  of  course, 
the  advice  not  to  sacrifice  legibility  for  speed.  I 
had  the  same  piece  dictated  night  after  night 
for  a  week,  and  sometimes  two  weeks,   if  the 


40  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

matter  was  of  more  than  average  diflSculty;  for 
I  am  confident  there  is  nothing  like  repetition 
for  increasing  speed.  With  regard  to  reading 
my  notes,  I  have  always  made  it  a  rule  to  read 
everything  I  write,  and  have  adopted  the  follow- 
ing plan :  When  a  fresh  piece  was  dictated  to 
me  at  a  certain  speed,  I  read  it  through  first, 
and  I  read  it  over  again  each  time  the  speed  was 
increased.  I  continued  practicing,  never  miss- 
ing a  night  (except  Sundays),  and  sat  for  exam- 
ination on  the  8th  of  December,  1893,  but  failed, 
having  more  than  the  maximum  percentage  of 
errors  in  my  transcript.  This  failure  did  not 
discourage  me  in  the  least ;  in  fact,  it  gave  me 
more  energy  and  a  stronger  determination  to  ac- 
complish my  object.  I  still  kept  practicing  as 
hard  as  I  could,  and  on  the  30th  of  December 
again  presented  myself  for  examination.  This 
time,  however,  the  passage  selected  for  the  test 
was  read  at  the  rate  of  260  words  per  minute, 
owing  to  a  hitch  in  the  timing,  and  therefore  I 
did  not  attempt  to  transcribe  my  notes.  This 
might  be  considered  another  failure,  but  still  I 
was  undaunted.  I  once  more  set  to  work,  but 
not  so  hard,  as  I  found  I  was  losing  my  retentive 
powers  from  over-practice  and  brain  exertion.     I 


"SPEED    PRACTICE."  41 

again  sat  for  examination  on  the  10th  of  Janu- 
ary, and  was  then  successful." 

Selection  of  Dictation  Matter. 

In  selecting  matter  for  dictation  practice 
(which,  as  already  implied,  should  alternate  be- 
tween old  matter  and  new),  the  first  aim  of  the 
student  should  be  to  familiarize  himself  with 
the  commonplace  words  and  phrases  which  con- 
stitute the  stock  of  every-day  converse.  Later 
the  dictation  should  cover  a  variety  of  subjects. 
Narrow  dictation  practice — that  practice  which 
confines  itself  constantly  to  the  same  class  of 
matter — is  to  be  especially  avoided.  Nothing 
but  practice  upon  a  variety  of  topics  will  give 
the  student  that  invigorating  training  which  he 
needs  as  preparation  for  actual  work.  Nor 
should  the  student  forget  to  give  preference  al- 
ways to  matter  which,  while  affording  good  short- 
hand practice,  will  increase  his  stock  of  useful, 
up-to-date  information.  For  instance,  a  freshly- 
delivered  Congressional  speech  on  currency,  or 
bankruptcy,  or  the  Pacific  Railroad  system,  gives 
better  practice  (other  things  being  equal)  than  a 
musty  Parliamentary  oration  on  "the  Nabob  of 
Arcot's  debts,"  or  "the  abolition  of  the  benefit 
of  clergy." 


42     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

How  Fast  Should  the  Dictation  Be? 

It  scarcely  need  be  said  that  the  dictation 
should  be  carefully  accommodated  to  the  skill 
of  the  writer,  growing  more  and  more  rapid  as 
his  mental  and  manual  facility  increases.  Mr. 
Graham  has  aptly  described  the  proper  dictation 
speed  when  he  says  that  *'it  should  be  such  as 
to  require  considerable  effort  to  keep  up,  but  not 
so  fast  as  to  require  illegible  or  incorrect  writ- 
ing or  to  induce  a  confused  and  hesitating  move- 
ment of  the  hand." 

"Keep    On." 

In  writing  from  dictation,  it  should  be  an  in- 
variable rule  never  to  allow  one's  self  to  pause 
when  a  difficult  or  doubtful  word  or  phrase  is 
encountered.  It  should  be  understood  that 
whenever  the  rate  of  dictation  (whatever  it  may 
be)  has  been  settled,  the  reader  shall  mercilessly 
proceed  at  that  rate,  and  shall  be  no  more  indul- 
gent of  the  writer's  occasional  slowness  than  an 
actual  speaker  would  be.  Nothing  can  more 
surely  lead  to  "a  sluggnsh  mental  process"  or 
more  surely  delay  the  acquisition  of  speed,  than 
for  the  writer  to  indulge  the  habit  of  pausing  and 
pondering  upon  every  uncommon  word,  or  what 


"SPEED    PRACTICE."  43 

is  still  worse,  suspending  the  dictation  in  order 
that  his  doubts  as  to  an  outline  may  be  settled 
by  reference  to  a  dictionary  or  a  text-book. 
"Keep  on"  should  be  the  inflexible  rule  for 
writer  and  reader.  If  the  preparatory  disci- 
pline recommended  in  previous  pages  has  been 
followed,  the  writer  should  be  able  to  get  down 
the  difficult  words  somehow,  without  "making  a 
break ' ' ;  and  if  not,  better  a  hundred  times  that 
there  should  be  an  absolute  hiatus  in  his  notes 
than  that  he  should  be  humored  by  allowing  him 
to  pause  and  ponder — a  habit  which,  if  indulged, 
must  disappoint  the  hope  of  ever  becoming  a 
rapid  writer.  How  the  difficulties  connected 
with  the  off-hand  writing  of  hard  words  may  be 
mastered  will  be  fully  treated  of  in  a  subsequent 
chapter.  Suffice  it  to  say  here  that  pausing  and 
pondering  upon  hard  words,  while  the  dictation 
is  accommodatingly  retarded  or  suspended,  will 
never  teach  one  how  to  write  such  words  when 
the  speaking  goes  right  on. 

The  Word=Carrying  Faculty. 

Unless  the  regular  rate  of  dictation  is  some- 
what retarded  (as  it  should  not  be)  when  a  hard 
word  is  encountered,   the  young  writer,   while 


44     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

"tackling"  the  difficulty,  will  necessarily  fall 
somewhat  behind,  as  even  the  accomplished  re- 
porter will  often  do  in  a  similar  situation.  It  is 
desirable,  then,  that  "speed  practice"  should 
train  the  young  stenographer  to  write,  when 
necessary,  a  number  of  words  behind  the  speaker. 
A  prominent  business  educator  (Mr.  S.  S. 
Packard)  has  said:  "There  is  one  practice 
which  we  enforce  in  the  study  of  shorthand  that 
would  be  valuable  to  anybody;  and  that  is  the 
fixing  of  long  sentences  in  the  mind,  so  as  to  re- 
call them  automatically.  A  reporter  who  can  do 
this  has  almost  any  speaker  at  his  command; 
for  while  the  speaker  stops  for  breath  or  to  col- 
lect his  thoughts  for  a  new  start,  the  pen  of  the 
ready  writer,  through  the  aid  of  a  trained  mem- 
ory, is  bringing  up  the  rear," 

For  the  purpose  of  cultivating  in  the  young 
stenographer  the  faculty  of  carrying  a  number 
of  words  in  his  mind  while  engaged  in  the  act 
of  writing,  a  portion  of  each  day's  dictation 
should  be  given  in  clauses  of  at  least  twelve  or 
fifteen  words  at  a  time.  As  the  writer's  mem- 
ory gains  in  word-holding  power,  the  length  of 
the  clauses  may  and  should  reach  twenty  or 
twenty-five  words,  without  causing  confusion  of 


"SPEED    PRACTICE.  45 

mind  or  hand.  Each  separate  clause  should  be 
read  without  any  pause;  but  after  each  clause 
there  should  be  a  sufficient  pause  to  allow  the 
writer  to  "catch  up,"  or  what  is  better,  almost 
"catch  up."  An  ordinary  reader,  in  accommo- 
dating himself  to  a  slow  writer,  usually  punctu- 
ates the  reading  thus : 

"In  the  few  minutes  that  remain  before  this 
fore  this  bill  is  voted  upon  [pause]  I  wish  to 
make  [pause]  as  briefly  and  concisely  as  I  can 
[pause]  an  explanation  of  its  principal  provi- 
sions [pause]  in  order  to  satisfy  the  House 
[pause]  that  it  should  be  passed  [pause]  in  its 
present  form  [pause]  without  any  modification 
or  amendment. ' ' 

Clauses  as  short  as  these  are  too  short  even 
for  a  writer  just  beginning  dictation  practice. 
They  do  not  call  for  any  vigorous  action  of  what 
may  be  called  the  word-carrying  faculty.  This 
faculty  would  be  much  better  cultivated  by  al- 
lowing eVen  to  the  inexperienced  note-taker  more 
sparsely  distributed  pauses,  as  indicated  in  the 
following : 

"In  the  few  minutes  that  remain  before  this 
bill  is  voted  upon  [pause]  I  wish  to  make  as 
briefly  and  concisely  as  I  can  [pause]  an  explana- 


46    THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

tion  of  its  principal  provisions  in  order  to  satisfy 
the  House  [pause]  that  it  should  be  passed  in  its 
present  form,  without  any  modification  or  amend- 
ment. ' ' 

The  writer  who  will  steadily  practice,  day  af- 
ter day  and  week  after  week,  from  the  sort  of 
dictation  here  recommended,  the  clauses  gradu- 
ally lengthening  till  they  reach  twenty  or  twen- 
ty-five words  each,  will  soon  be  surprised  at  the 
growth  of  his  word-carrying  capacity,  and  will 
ultimately  acquire  the  priceless  art  of  writing 
composedly,  without  hurry  or  flurry  (and  there- 
fore making  uniformly  well-written  notes),  al- 
though the  speaker  may  indulge  in  speedy 
"spurts"  and  "jerks"  most  vexatious  to  the 
writer  not  thus  trained. 

Who  Are  the  Best  Dictators? 

In  order  to  receive  the  full  benefit  of  this  ex- 
ercise, it  is  highly  desirable  that  the  dictation 
be  done  by  a  shorthand  writer,  who,  watching 
the  writer's  pen,  can  after  each  pause,  resume 
dictation  before  the  clause  just  dictated  has  been 
entirely  written.  In  other  words,  while  there 
must  be  pauses  in  the  reading  (and  in  the  be- 
ginning  of   the   practice,   long  pauses,   varying 


"SPEED  PRACTICE."  47 

with  the  ability  of  the  writer),  it  is  highly  de- 
sirable that  the  writing  shall  proceed  without 
pause ;  that  the  pen  shall  never  come  to  a  stand- 
still ;  that  the  writer  shall  never  ' '  catch  up ' '  with 
the  reader,  but  be  constantly  on  a  chase  after 
him. 

When,  as  often  happens  in  speed  classes,  a 
number  of  stenographers  whose  rates  of  speed 
vary  are  following  the  same  reader,  who  gener- 
ally accommodates  the  rate  of  dictation  to  the 
slowest  of  the  class,  the  more  rapid  writers  are 
of  course  missing  one  of  the  main  advantages 
which  ' '  speed  practice ' '  should  furnish — 'the  con- 
stant pressure  upon  the  writer  to  do  his  best. 
The  greatest  improvement  from  dictation  prac- 
tice is  obtained  when  the  writer  constitutes  ''a 
class  of  one,"  and  the  reading  is  accommodated 
to  him  alone.  To  enjoy  the  advantages  of  such 
dictation,  no  better  plan  can  be  adopted  than 
for  two  stenographers  to  seek  mutual  improve- 
ment by  reading  to  each  other.  As  intimated  in 
a  previous  paragraph,  a  reader  who  is  himself  a 
stenographer,  able  by  watching  the  writer  to 
tell  how  far  the  writing  is  behind  the  reading, 
can  be  far  more  useful  than  a  reader  ignorant 
of  shorthand,  who  usually  pauses  between  the 


48     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

clauses  until  he  sees  the  writer's  pen  stop.  This 
constant  pausing  of  the  pen  is  what  should  be 
especially  avoided.  A  writer  is  getting  the  best 
training  for  speed  when  the  reader  never,  or  very 
rarely,  allows  him  to  "catch  up."  In  this  way 
the  reader,  as  it  were,  pulls  the  writer  along. 
No  chance  is  given  for  lagging  or  loitering. 


MORE      ABOUT      -SPEED 
PRACTICE." 


Fatigue  as  a  Schoolmaster. 
There  seems  to  be  particular  benefit  to  the 
young  stenographer  from  writing  up  to  and  past 
the  point  of  muscular  fatigue.  Shorthand  writ- 
ing long  continued  at  a  single  sitting,  with  no 
let-up  when  the  writer  has  become  thoroughly 
weary,  appears  to  limber  the  writing  machinery 
as  nothing  else  ^\^ill.  There  are  reasons  why 
this  should  be  so.  Whatever  people  undertake 
to  do  involving  muscular  exertion — walking, 
swimming,  bicycle  riding,  etc. — is  at  first  per- 
formed with  an  excess  of  effort.  In  this  excess 
of  effort,  there  is  needless  expenditure  of  mind 
and  muscle.  The  surplus  beyond  what  the  act 
requires  is  wasted.  Where  rapidity  is  an  object, 
this  waste  of  effort  and  strength  holds  us  back. 
Almost  every  shorthand  writer  in  his  early  prac- 
tice throws  into  his  work  too  much  muscular 
effort — much  more  than  the  act  of  writing  re- 
quires. He  works  under  intense  mental  strain, 
with  eager  determination  to  keep  up  if  he  can; 
49 


50     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

and  this  mental  strain  engenders  by  sympathy  a 
muscular  strain.  This  can  be  seen  in  the  set 
expression  of  the  face,  and  the  tightness  with 
which  pen  or  pencil  is  grasped.  From  this  over- 
straining, this  surplus  of  effort,  there  comes 
generally  such  a  stiffening  of  the  muscles 
as  forbids  the  best  work.  For  surplus  of 
effort,  the  writer  needs  to  substitute  economy 
of  effort;  and  for  muscular  tension,  muscular 
relaxation. 

Fatigue  is  a  grand  school  to  teach  a  person 
to  do  anything  in  the  easiest  way.  Mind  or 
body,  when  required  to  continue  effort  past  the 
fatigue  point,  works  along  the  lines  of  least  re- 
sistance. The  easy,  swinging  gait  with  which 
the  veteran  soldier  accomplishes  long  marches 
at  the  cost  of  but  little  weariness,  contrasts 
strikiugly  with  the  stiff,  self-conscious  move- 
ment of  the  holiday  soldier,  who  has  not  learned 
in  the  school  of  fatigue  to  economize  muscular 
effort.  The  young  stenographer  must  learn  from 
tiresome  practice  to  get  the  maximum  of  re- 
sult from  the  minimum  of  effort.  This  idea  has 
l)een  compressed  by  Mr.  Irland  into  a  single  sen- 
tence: "Write  from  dictation  until  your  arms 
are  ready  to  fall  off — until  your  friends  (whom 


MORE  ABOUT  "SPEED  PRACTICE."    51 

you  have  conscripted  as  your  readers)  fly  at  the 
sight  of  you."  I  think  it  will  be  found  a  rule 
without  exception  that  extreme  speed  has  never 
been  attained  by  any  one  until  he  has  passed 
through  spells  of  note-taking  continuing  hour 
after  hour  and  day  after  day — continuing  when 
excessive  weariness  would  have  made  him  de- 
lighted to  stop.  The  writer  who  is  thus  com- 
pelled to  "keep  his  nose"  to  the  reporting 
"grindstone,"  the  grindstone  turning  vigorously 
all  the  time,  is  the  writer  who  learns  to  write 
easily,  who  gains  enviable  speed,  and  who  finally 
almost  defies  fatigue. 

Weary  Work  Wins. 

If  a  young  writer  has  really  reached  a  point 
(which  so  many  falsely  imagine  themselves  to 
have  reached)  where  "all  he  needs  is  speed  prac- 
tice," then,  if  he  wishes  to  see  his  "speed  prac- 
tice" bear  fruit  promptly  and  profusely,  let  him 
every  day  or  night  for  a  single  week,  write  from 
dictation  for  one  hour,  absolutely  without  a  mo- 
ment's  pause  or  let-up,  the  reader  holding  him 
constantly  at  the  top  of  his  speed.  During  the 
next  week  let  him  continue  the  same  discipline 


52     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

for  an  hour  and  a  half  daily.  The  following  week 
let  each  day's  dictation  last  for  two  hours. 
During  each  day's  period  of  discipline,  let  there 
be  absolutely  no  pause,  no  ** breathing  spell"  of 
any  kind.  Though  the  writer  may  feel  at  times, 
in  the  language  of  Mr.  Irland,  as  if  his  arm 
were  ready  to  drop  off,  let  him  keep  right  on.  If, 
because  of  extreme  weariness,  he  stops  to  rest 
before  his  task  is  done,  he  loses  the  crowning 
benefit  of  this  highly  invigorating  discipline.  If 
he  has  the  resolution  to  submit  to  this  severe 
regimen,  he  will  at  the  end  of  the  third  week 
(possibly  much  earlier)  feel  a  gratifying  con- 
sciousness of  increased  speed  and  will  write  with 
far  greater  ease  than  ever  before.  The  stooping 
posture  which  caused  his  back  to  ache  so  much, 
the  vise-like  grip  of  pen  or  pencil  which  so 
severely  wearied  the  muscles  of  hand  and  arm — 
these  and  other  bad  habits  which  helped  to 
fatigue  him.  while  at  the  same  time  hindering 
him  from  keeping  up,  will  have  been  partially 
or  wholly  abandoned.  The  whole  writing  ma- 
chinery, mental  and  physical,  will  have  been  lim- 
bered and  relaxed,  and  thereby  fitted  to  move 
smoothly  and  rapidly. 

The  shorthand  student,  if  qualified  by  sound 


MORE  ABOUT  "SPEED  PRACTICE."    53 

stenographic  training  to  enter  upon  such  prac- 
tice, may  reasonably  expect  in  even  so  short  a 
time  as  three  weeks,  a  gain  of  twenty  to  thirty 
words  a  minute.  No  more  helpful  injunction 
can  be  given  to  the  young  stenographer  than 
this :  If  time  allows,  keep  up  each  spell  of  dicta- 
tion practice  till  you  are  thoroughly  weary.  The 
longer  you  practice  at  one  time,  and  the  wearier 
you  are  when  you  stop,  the  sooner  and  the  more 
surely  will  you  become  a  rapid  writer.  The 
stenographer  who  never  writes  from  dictation 
for  more  than  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  at  a  stretch 
deludes  himself  if  he  fancies  that  such  easy- 
going discipline  is  really  worthy  the  name  of 
"speed  practice."  [ 

A  veteran  reporter  once  told  me  that  he  never 
knew  a  stenographer  to  amount  to  anything  till 
he  had  passed  through  "a  demnition  grind." 
The  persistent  practice  of  shorthand  under  dicta- 
tion pressure,  up  to  and  past  the  fatigue  point,  is 
the  "demnition  grind"  which  more  than  any 
other  one  thing  constitutes,  in  my  judgment,  the 
solution  of  the  "speed"  problem.  If  any  young 
stenographer  who  flatters  himself  that  he  is  "  am- 
bitious to  become  a  reporter,"  regards  such  se- 
vere  discipline   as   involving  "too  much  hard 


54    THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

work,"  then  he  must  content  himself  without 
the  high  speed  which  nothing  but  hard  work  can 
give  him. 

Practice  Must  Be  Regular. 

There  ought  not  to  be  occasion  to  say  that 
practice,  to  be  in  the  highest  degree  improving, 
must  be  ceaselessly  continued  from  day  to  day — 
a  regular  quantity  of  practice  at  a  regular  time. 
Some  students  who  fancy  they  are  "practicing 
shorthand,"  give  to  the  study,  for  example,  half 
an  hour  one  day,  and  fifteen  minutes  the  next. 
Then  comes  an  interval  of  two  or  three  days 
with  no  practice  at  all;  then  a  day  when,  to 
"make  up  for  lost  time,"  practice  may  occupy 
perhaps  forty-five  minutes  or  possibly  an  hour; 
then  utter  suspension  of  practice  for  perhaps  a 
week  or  more.  Such  irregular  or  intermittent 
practice  is  of  little  or  no  value  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  speed.  Where  shorthand  practice  is 
merely  a  "side  issue" — where  simply  odds  and 
ends  of  time  are  devoted  to  it — ^little  advance- 
ment can  be  expected. 

How  Much  Daily  Practice? 

Three  or  four  hours  daily,  in  some  eases  five 
or  six,  are  not  too  much  for  the  various  branches 


MORE  ABOUT  "SPEED  PRACTICE."    55 

of  shorthand  practice,  if  the  zealous  student  is 
fortunate  enough  to  command  that  much  time. 
Where  a  large  Amount  of  time  can  be  daily 
given  to  the  acquirement  of  shorthand  skill, 
the  different  branches  of  study  and  practice 
may  be  diversified  in  accordance  substantially 
with  the  following  schedule: 

1.  Careful  copjnng  from  correct  shorthand  for 
the  purpose  of  acquiring  or  preserving  a  sym- 
metrical and  legible  style  (which  constant  writ- 
ing under  *  *  speed  pressure ' '  tends  to  impair  and 
destroy),  and  for  the  purpose  of  accumulating 
gradually  ' '  a  reporting  vocabulary. ' '  This  copy- 
ing may  embrace  separate  words  properly  se- 
lected (including  word-signs,  contracted  forms, 
etc.),  sentence-matter,  or  phrases. 

2.  The  writing  of  this  memorized  matter  from 
dictation  as  rapidly  as  it  can  be  done  correctly. 

3.  The  writing  of  new  matter  from  dictation, 
it  being  borne  in  mind  that  the  reader  should  not 
pause  to  enable  the  writer  to  construct  or  recall 
the  outline  of  some  difficult  word.  A  portion  of 
this  dictation  should  be  directed  to  cultivating 
in  the  manner  already  described  the  word-carry- 
ing faculty. 

4.  The  reading  back  of  considerable  portions 


56     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

of  all  dictated  matter,  it  being  remembered  that 
this  reading  back  should  always  include  some 
matter  written  on  a  previous  day. 

5.  Writing  off-hand  from  dictation  new  and 
difficult  words,  with  the  least  possible  hesita- 
tion, so  that  the  student  may  learn  not  to  be 
staggered  when  called  on  to  write  a  word  which 
he  has  never  written  before. 

The  Office  Stenographer's  Peril. 

Some  writers  expect  an  increase  of  speed 
because  they  are  daily  using  shorthand  in  tak- 
ing office  dictation.  Experience  shows  that  such 
practice  offers  but  little  improvement;  and 
often,  where  the  conditions  of  office  dictation 
are  easy  and  unexacting,  the  writer  almost  un- 
consciously becomes,  as  time  goes  by,  less  and 
less  speedy,  and  less  and  less  fitted  for  any- 
thing except  his  daily  routine.  In  the  first  place, 
the  office  stenographer  writes  too  little  short- 
hand. All  told,  he  has  perhaps  an  hour  or  an 
hour  and  a  half  of  daily  practice — too  little  for 
rapid  improvement — -too  little  to  satisfy  any  am- 
bitious writer.  Besides,  the  dictation  is  in  many 
cases  so  slow  as  to  induce  loss  of  speed, 
instead    of    gain.     And    the    dictation,    what- 


MORE  ABOUT  "SPEED  PRACTICE."  57 

ever  its  rate,  does  not  grow  more  rapid  from 
week  to  week  and  from  month  to  month,  as 
genuine  "speed  practice"  may  and  must.  Then 
the  topics  of  office  dictation  are  of  limited  range, 
covering  the  routine  of  a  single  business.  More 
than  that,  the  writer  who  takes  daily  the  dicta- 
tion of  but  one  man  or  a  few  men,  gets  no  such 
practice  as  the  would-be  reporter  requires  in  fol- 
lowing a  variety  of  voices  and  a  variety  of  ver- 
bal styles. 

A.  Washington  correspondent  of  the  New  York 
Mail  and  Express  tells  a  story  which  emphasizes 
the  office  stenographer's  peril — the  peril  of  los- 
ing gradually  and  almost  perceptibly  in  au  of- 
fice position  the  shorthand  skill  with  which  he 
entered  it:  "I  know  a  young  man  up  in  the 
Treasury  Department  who,  until  a  few  months 
since,  held  a  $1,800  position.  "When  he  first 
entered  the  Department  he  was  one  of  the  best 
stenographers  in  the  country.  As  ill-luck  would 
have  it,  he  was  assigned  to  the  private  secretary- 
ship of  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Department.  This 
gentleman  was  a  slow  thinker  and  talker.  For 
several  years  those  two  worked  in  harmony,  and 
thoroughly  understood  each  other.  But  uncon- 
sciously,   the    stenographer    drifted    backward. 


58  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

Not  long  ago  the  chief  was  'fired'  on  short  notice. 
The  man  that  took  his  place  came  out  of  the 
West,  and  was  full  of  nervous  energy.  He 
started  in  with  a  rush  on  his  dictation,  and,  in 
the  language  of  the  profession,  'put  it  up  the 
back'  of  his  stenographer,  though  the  speed  was 
such  as  the  young  man  would  have  smiled  at 
when  he  entered  the  Department.  The  chief 
fumed  and  fretted  at  the  stenographer's  breaks 
and  mistakes;  and  in  one  week's  time  the  latter 
was  relegated  to  a  $1,000  position." 

"The  only  trouble,"  the  writer  continues, 
"with  the  force  in  the  Department  is  that  in  a 
great  many  oases  their  work  is  so  light  that  they 
almost  unconsciously  slip  backward.  Then  comes 
a  time  when  their  ability  is  tested,  and  their 
weakness  brought  out.  There  are  hundreds  in 
this  class,  and  the  danger  of  slack  work  has 
become  a  menace  to  the  profession." 

Practice  From  Actual  Speaking. 

Dictation  is  at  best  a  mimicry  of  public  speak- 
ing, and,  because  it  is  but  mimicry,  must  always 
lack  some  of  the  essential  qualities  of  what  it 
imitates.     The  mere  writing  ef  dictated  matter, 


MORE  ABOUT  "SPEED  PRACTICE."    59 

however  judiciously  managed  the  dictation  may 
be,  can  never  fully  prepare  any  one  for  the 
every-day  work  of  the  reporter.  The  art  of 
reporting  public  speeches  can  only  be  effectually 
learned  from  reporting  public  speeches.  The 
young  stenographer,  when  dictation  practice 
with  its  measured  monotone  has  reached  a 
certain  point,  must  accustom  himself  to  follow 
the  cadence  of  natural  speech,  with  its  rises 
and  falls,  its  rushes  and  pauses.  He  must  ac- 
custom himself  to  follow  a  variety  of  voices, 
different  in  their  tones  and  articulations.  He 
must  accustom  himself  especially  to  that  sort  of 
utterance  which  does  not  humor  his  shortcom- 
ings as  a  writer.  So,  when  the  proper  time 
comes,  the  would-be  reporter  must  lose  no  oppor- 
tunity to  take  notes  from  the  lips  of  actual  speak- 
ers. Sermons,  lectures,  court  proceedings,  busi- 
ness meetings,  etc.,  are  the  material  upon  which 
he  is  to  try  his  "prentice  hand,"  and  which 
are  to  give  him  practical  training  for  his  chosen 
profession. 

When  Should  Speech  Practice  Begin? 

When  should  this  practice  begm?  As  soon 
as  the  rate  of  a  very  slow  speaker — say,  ninety 
or  one  hundred  words  a  minute — 'has  been  at- 


60     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

tained.  There  are  many  ministers  of  the  Gospel, 
and  even  some  lawyers  and  rostrum  orators, 
who  do  not  exceed  this  rate  of  utterance. 
Equipped  with  a  bona  fide  speed  of  90  or  100 
words  a  minute,  the  young  practitioner  will  find 
no  difficulty  in  discovering  speakers  who  will 
not  overtax  his  powers.  Let  him  miss  no  oppor- 
tunity to  take  down  these  slow  speakers.  As  the 
task  becomes  easy,  let  him  select  for  practice 
some  speaker  or  speakers  of  greater  speed,  but 
not  too  fast  for  him ;  for  it  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  best  practice  for  the  increase  of 
speed  is  that  which  keeps  the  writer  constantly 
straining  to  keep  up,  but  never  (except  in  occa- 
sional "spurts  of  speed")  leaves  him  discourag- 
ingly  in  the  lurch.  As  he  proceeds  with  his  prac- 
tice, he  vnll  find  that  very  often  he  can  success- 
fully take  the  whole  of  a  sermon  or  address,  ex- 
cept possibly  a  few  passages  (perhaps  only  the 
peroration),  in  which  the  orator,  warming  with 
his  subject,  goes  beyond  his  average  pace.  These 
losses  of  occasional  passages  must  not  make  the 
young  writer  despond.  Nor  must  he,  as  soon  as 
the  speaker  becomes  too  fast  for  him,  drop  his 
pencil  or  close  his  note-book.  When  the  more 
rapid  passages  come,  let  him  keep  cool,  and  re- 


MORE  ABOUT  "SPEED  PRACTICE."    61 

cord  as  many  of  the  words  as  he  can,  in  legible 
characters  and  in  the  form  of  complete  sen- 
tences, even  though  these  complete  sentences 
as  recorded  may  lack  some  clauses  of  minor 
importance. 

In  both  the  earlier  and  the  later  stages  of  the 
young  writer's  training,  he  should,  if  possible, 
practice  upon  different  speakers,  rather  than 
exclusively  upon  any  one  man.  Practice  in  a 
court  room  is  excellent  when  one  has  attained 
something  near  the  average  speed  of  legal  pro- 
ceedings. But,  unfortunately,  court  rooms  do 
not  generally  furnish  hospitable  accommodations 
for  the  amateur  practitioner.  Reporting  a  course 
of  law  lectures  will  afford  excellent  practice. 
Even  if  one 's  primary  aim  is  to  be  "  only  a  sten- 
ographer,"  not  a  lawyer,  the  fee  demanded  for 
attendance  on  such  a  course  will  be  far  more 
than  repaid  by  the  opportunities  for  shorthand 
practice  and  by  the  legal  knowledge  incidental- 
ly acquired,  which  must  prove  highly  useful 
to  the  young  reporter,  whose  business  will  of 
course  call  him  frequently  into  the  courts. 

Avoid  Speakers  Who  Are  Much  Too  Fast. 

The  young  writer  should  be  especially  warned 


62     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

against  practicing  habitually  upon  speakers 
whose  regular  rate  is  much  too  fast  for  him. 
If,  when  such  a  speaker  is  encountered,  the 
young  practitioner  can  remain  cool,  and  keep  his 
wits  about  him — a  hard  thing  for  a  novice  to  do 
when  the  speaker  in  the  course  of  every  sentence 
completely  outstrips  him — he  may  succeed  in 
condensing  the  rapidly-uttered  passages  as  they 
proceed,  and  thus  making  a  readable  and  con- 
nected, though  not  a  complete,  report.  Such 
a  method  of  "reporting"  may  be  invigorating 
as  a  mental  exercise;  it  may  indeed  have  its 
value  as  practical  training  for  much  of  the 
work  that  a  newspaper  reporter  is  often  called 
upon  to  perform.  But  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  this  species  of  note-taking  cannot  count  for 
much  as  "speed  practice,"  because  no  person 
can  carry  on  the  dual  operation  of  simultaneous 
condensation  and  no'te-taking  without  falling 
considerably  behind  the  speed  he  might  attain 
if  his  sole  attention  were  concentrated  on  his 
shorthand. 

Besides,  if  a  young  writer  shows  great  self- 
possession  when  the  speaking  is  too  fast  for 
him,  it  is  sometimes  a  dangerous  sign.  If, 
with  speed  as  yet  undeveloped,  he  can  coolly 


MORE  ABOUT  "SPEED  PRACTICE."  63 

and  with  passable  success  substitute  verbal  con- 
densation for  verbatim  note-taking,  there  is  dan- 
ger that  he  may  learn  to  content  himself  with 
taking  down  less  than  is  actually  said.  If  he 
yields  (as  there  is  peril  he  may  do),  to  the 
tempting  and  too  flattering  delusion  that  so 
many  words  as  he  can  get  down  a,re  the  really 
important  parts  of  the  speech,  and  the  clauses 
which  he  is  compelled  to  omit  are  non-essential — 
if  he  accustoms  himself  to  'think  that  something 
less  than  the  words  actually  uttered  may  really 
pass  acceptably  for  a  "verbatim  report,"  he 
may  commit  the  sad  error  of  prematurely  per- 
suading himself  that  he  is  "a  reporter."  If  he 
should  ever  enter  the  reporting  profession  with 
any  such  delusive  idea,  woe  to  his  standing  as  a 
*  *  reporter, ' '  and  woe  to  the  speakers  who  may  be 
committed  to  his  audacious  but  unskillful  hands. 

Fred  Pitman's  Sad  Experience. 

But  when  the  young  writer  habitually  under- 
takes to  follow  speakers  whose  regular  rate  is 
much  too  fast  for  him,  the  mischief  that  most 
generally  happens  is  that,  yielding  to  the  tempta- 
tion to  get  down  or  try  to  get  down  a  mark, 
however  illegible,  for  every  word,  he  contracts 


64     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

a  loose,  careless,  illegible  habit  of  writing,  which 
it  may  cause  him  much  trouble  ultimately  to  get 
rid  of.  Mr.  Fred  Pitman,  one  of  that  famous 
band  of  brothers,  with  the  inventor  of  Phonog- 
raphy at  their  head,  whose  names  are  so  closely 
associated  with  the  development  and  dissemina- 
tion of  phonetic  shorthand,  has  told  in  the  fol- 
lowing striking  language  how  he  was  seriously 
delayed,  and  for  the  time  being  foiled,  in  his 
efforts  to  attain  reporting  skill,  by  seeking  speed 
at  the  expense  of  accuracy: 

"The  writer  of  this  paper  has,  to  use  a  fa- 
miliar phrase,  gone  through  it  all.  He  can  look 
back  almost  half  a  century,  and  can  vividly  re- 
call the  sensation  of  attempting  laboriously  to 
write  a  short  passage  in  phonography  from  a 
newspaper  or  book ;  he  can  remember  how  at 
times  he  worried  over  his  blunders;  how  he 
chafed  at  his  slowness,  groaned  under  the  diffi- 
culty of  constructing  good  outlines;  and  how,  at 
a  subseqvient  period,  he  writhed  at  the  apparent 
impossibility  of  overcoming  the  vis  inerticB  of  his 
pen.  Looking  back  over  the  long  vista,  he  can 
now  perceive  that  speed  came  only  too  soon. 
Possessing  a  moderate  amount  of  natural  quick- 
ness, his  study  and  pra<3tice  enabled  him  in  a 


MORE  ABOUT  "SPEED  rilACTICE."  65 

short  time  to  write  at  a  speed  of  from  100  to  130 
words  per  minute.  At  this  juncture  he  became 
anxious  to  acquire  a  verbatim  speed  that  should 
qualify  him  to  follow  a  swift  speaker;  and  with 
praiseworthy  assiduity,  he  reported  the  dis- 
courses he  heard  on  a  Sunday.  The  preacher 
happened  to  be  a  literary  man,  who  composed 
sermons  of  a  somewhat  difficult  character.  He 
was  also  decidedly  rapid  in  his  delivery,  so  that 
the  reporter's  imperfect  speed  not  only  pre- 
vented him  from  keeping  up,  but  he  sometimes 
failed  even  to  grasp  the  meaning  of  what  was 
uttered.  He,  however,  strove  so  zealously  to  '  get 
it  all  down,'  that  he  soon  acquired  the  ability  to 
follow  this  fluent  speaker  with  only  an  occasional 
loss  of  a  word.  Alas!  he  was  not  aware  of  the 
imperative  importance  of  reading  over  his  notes ; 
he  did  not  attempt  any  regular  method  of  test- 
ing his  accuracy  by  writing  from  dictation,  then 
transcribing,  and  afterwards  comparing  his 
transcript  with  the  printed  book.  He  did  not 
see  the  desirableness  of  undertaking  the  labor 
of  transcribing  a  large  portion  of  his  writing 
practice.  He  gained  speed,  but  not  a  good  style. 
Thus  was  laid  the  foundation  of  faults  which  it 
required  much  subsequent  study   and  care  to 


66      THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

eradicate.  When  afterwards  he  became  a  profes- 
sional reporter,  he  was  sometimes  chagrined  at 
misreading  his  notes,  and  discovering,  perhaps 
too  late  for  remedial  measures,  that  the  hidden 
meaning  of  his  symbols  has  not  been  detected." 

The  Beginner's  "Stage  Fright." 

When  the  young  writer  first  attempts  to  take 
notes  in  public,  whether  on  the  platform  or  at 
his  seat  amid  the  audience,  the  newness  of  the 
undertaking,  his  eager  wish  to  succeed,  and  his 
fear  of  not  succeeding — his  apprehension  that 
the  eyes  of  the  audience  are  fixed  upon  him  and 
that  the  observers  are  making  their  estimate  of 
his  success  or  failure — all  these  things,  creating 
a  novel  and  most  trying  environment,  will  doubt- 
less embarrass  him  greatly,  causing  him  in  his 
early  attempts  at  public  note-taking  to  accom- 
plish far  less  than  upon  fair  trial  he  is  really 
able  to  accomplish.  A  distinguished  English 
reporter,  looking  back  from  the  standpoint  of  a 
veteran  to  the  boyhood  period  when  he  first 
attempted  to  take  notes  of  a  sermon,  describes 
thus  vividly  his  discomfiture : 

''I  tried  my  best  to  conceal  my  emotions;  but 


MORE  ABOUT  "SPEED  PRACTICE."    67 

my  heart  was  beating  all  the  way  to  church.  As 
to  the  preliminary  service,  I  understood  as  little 
of  it  as  if  it  had  been  read  in  Cherokee.  I  stood 
when  I  ought  to  have  knelt,  and  knelt  when  I 
should  have  sat  or  stood.  I  demeaned  myself 
like  a  youth  whose  religious  education  had  been 
sadly  neglected.  At  length  the  clergyman  en- 
tered the  pulpit,  and  I  took  my  sheets  of  paper 
from  the  Bible  in  which  I  had  concealed  them, 
and  my  pencil  from  my  pocket.  If  I  did  not  feel, 
like  Bonaparte's  soldiers,  that  the  eyes  of  pos- 
terity were  upon  me,  I  devoutly  believed  that 
every  eye  in  the  church  was  directed  to  ray  note- 
book. The  color  mounted  to  my  cheeks,  and  my 
whole  frame  trembled." 

For  what  Thomas  Allen  Reed  thus  suffered, 
and  what  many  a  stenographic  novice  must  suf- 
fer, in  his  first  attempts  at  public  note-taking, 
there  is  no  cure  but  to  "brave  it  out."  Let  the 
unfledged  note-taker  resolve  that  he  will  mas- 
ter his  embarrassment  and  self-consciousness; 
let  him  courageously  repeat  his  public  attempts 
at  reporting  as  often  as  occasion  offers.  Gradu- 
ally, as  he  becomes  more  and  more  accustomed 
to  his  environment,  his  task  will  become  easier 
and  easier,  until  finally  he  will  be  able  to  take 


68    THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

notes  as  well  under  the  eyes  of  an  audience  as  if 
he  were  in  the  seclusion  of  his  little  room  at 
home. 

In  getting  his  reporting  practice,  the  novice 
must  not  grumble  if  often  his  accommodations 
for  note-taking  are  bad.  If  he  is  obliged  to  write 
on  his  knee,  if  he  is  obliged  sometimes  to  write 
while  standing,  or  sometimes  on  a  desk  or  table 
which  is  jarred  at  intervals  by  the  pounding  of 
the  orator's  fist  (as  often  happens  at  political 
meetings  or  in  court),  let  him  console  himself 
with  the  reflection  that  he  is  getting  in  good 
time  an  essential  part  of  his  education  as  a  re- 
porter; for  the  reporter  in  the  practice  of  his 
vocation  is  obliged  frequently  to  conform  him- 
self cheerfully  to  "rough  and  tumble"  condi- 
tions. 

Dictation  Practice  Must  Still  Go  On. 

When  the  young  writer  begins  to  take  notes 
of  public  speaking,  his  dictation  practice  is  by 
no  means  to  be  suspended.  "While  practice  from 
public  speal\ing  has  its  advantages,  of  which 
ever}'  j'oung  practitioner  must  avail  himself — • 
'  advantages  which  mere  writing  from  dictation 
cannot  supply — there  is  connected  with  dicta- 


MORE  ABOUT  "SPEED  PRACTICE."  69 

tion  practice  one  peculiar  advantage  so  valua- 
ble that  the  shorthand  writer  can  never  afford  to 
give  up  such  practice  entirely  until  he  has  at- 
tained all  the  speed  to  which  he  aspires.  The 
young  writer,  while  developing  his  speed,  finds 
that  some  speakers  upon  whom  he  experiments 
are  too  slow,  others  altogether  too  fast,  and  only 
a  comparatively  few  are  just  rapid  enough  to 
realize  the  ideal  of  speed  practice  as  defined  by 
Mr.  G-raham — "requiring  considerable  effort  to 
keep  up,  but  not  so  fast  as  to  require  illegible  or 
incorrect  writing,  or  to  induce  a  confused  and 
hesitating  movement  of  the  hand." 

In  order,  therefore,  that  the  student  who  has 
begun  to  practice  on  public  speakers  may  still 
secure  a  sufficiency  of  that  invigorating  practice 
which,  while  constantly  putting  him  on  his  met- 
tle, never  entirely  baffles  him,  dictation  at  a 
steadily-increasing  pace  adapted  to  his  steady 
advancement  in  speed,  must  go  on  from  day  to 
day  and  from  week  to  week.  As  this  dictation 
practice  goes  on,  steadily  nerving  the  student 
to  higher  and  higher  attainments,  the  reporting 
of  public  utterances  will  grow  easier  and  easier, 
and  the  difficult  or  impossible  speakers  will 
gradually  become  fewer  and  fewer. 


70     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 
How  to  Insure  Legible  Notes. 

One  danger  of  persistent  speed  practice — the 
acquirement  of  an  illegible  style  of  writing — 
must  not  be  overlooked.  The  best  safeguard 
against  contracting  an  illegible  style,  or  at  least 
a  sure  warning  when  illegibility  is  making  its 
encroachments,  is  the  persistent  and  habitual 
reading  of  one's  notes.  Let  it  be  understood 
that  all  notes  are  to  be  regarded  as  illegible 
which  cannot  be  read  with  reasonable  fluency. 
If  the  writer  finds  himself  obliged  to  "wrestle" 
with  his  notes  because  the  characters  are  badly 
formed,  so  that  perhaps  several  hours  are  re- 
quired to  ''decipher"  what  he  has  taken  down  in 
the  course  of  twenty  or  thirty  minutes,  speed,  if 
gained  at  all,  is  being  gained  at  the  expense  of 
accuracy,  and  no  real  progress  is  being  made. 

But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  practice, 
however  industriously  pursued,  in  reading  one's 
own  notes,  has  no  magic  power  to  make  bad 
shorthand  good.  Reading  may  disclose  faulty 
forms — ^faultj'  in  conception  or  in  execution — 
which  speed  practice  has  developed  or  is  devel- 
oping; it  may  cultivate,  too,  a  certain  facility  in 
reading  shorthand  thus  faulty.  But  the  faculty 
which  the  student  should  seek  is  not  the  faculty 


MORE  ABOUT  "SPEED  PRACTICE."    71 

of  deciphering  with  effort  shorthand  badly  writ- 
ten. His  aim  should  be  to  acquire  that  facility 
in  reading  which  comes  from  writing  notes  that 
can  be  read  without  difficulty  because  of  their 
intrinsic  legibilty — not  because  the  writer  has 
habituated  himself  by  long  practice  to  reading 
with  painful  struggles  his  own  misshapen  short- 
hand forms,  as  unintelligible  as  Chinese  hiero- 
glyphics to  everybody  but  himself. 

There  is  one  simple  recipe  for  maintaining  an 
intrinsically  legible  style  in  spite  of  persistent 
speed  practice,  either  upon  actual  speaking  or 
from  dictation :  let  the  student,  without  suspend- 
ing his  speed  practice,  devote  some  portion  of 
every  day  to  writing,  with  no  thought  of  speed, 
and  not  necessarily  from  the  voice,  a  reasonable 
quantity  of  shorthand  with  all  the  symmetry 
and  neatness  that  he  can  command.  This  will 
insure  him  against  the  dangerous  tendency  of 
speed  practice  (an  almost  unavertible  danger  if 
speed  practice  be  exclusively  pursued)  to  wear 
away  habits  of  neat  execution  which  may  have 
been  formed,  and  to  bring  the  writer  into  the 
condition  so  vividly  described  by  Mr.  Fred  Pit- 
man in  the  extract  already  quoted.  One  of  the 
most  noteworthy  points  in  Mr.  Buubury's  course 


72  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

of  training,  as  described  by  himself  on  a  previous 
page,  is  that,  even  while  drilling  for  a  most  ex- 
acting speed-test,  he  resolutely  devoted  a  por- 
tion of  this  time  to  practicing  with  no  thought 
of  speed,  and  with  the  object  merely  of  making 
legible  notes.  The  shorthand  student  should 
never  forget  that  it  is  entirely  practicable  to 
carry  into  reporting  work  a  neat,  symmetrical 
style  of  writing ;  and  to  do  this  should  be  a  dis- 
tinct object  of  his  ambition. 


HOW  TO  WRITE  THE  "HARD 
WORDS." 


The  Student's  Bewilderment. 

The  young  shorthand  writer,  when  undertak- 
ing to  follow  dictation  or  public  speaking,  is 
often  tempted  to  exclaim,  "If  it  were  not  for 
these  hard  words  which  now  and  then  bother  me 
and  break  me  all  up,  I  could  get  along  pretty 
well. ' '  This  vexed  and  bewildered  state  of  mind 
has  been  vividly  described  by  that  widely-known 
reporter,  Mr.  H.  C.  Demming,  of  Harrisburg, 
Pa. :  *  *  Just  where  the  greatest  speed  is  necessary 
— to  write  the  consonants  and  then  put  the  vow- 
els in  their  proper  places — is  just  where  the  most 
hesitation  is  liable  to  be.  First,  time  is  lost  in 
getting  the  true  sound  of  the  word;  secondly, 
comes  the  quickly-to-be-disposed-of  thought  how 
to  write  the  consonants  the  best  way.  and  which 
vowels  to  put  in,  and  how  many.  All  this  in  less 
than  a  second!  By  that  time  the  outline  has 
been  made  with  such  spasmodic  jerks  that  in- 
tended full-lengths  are  half-lengths,  and  intend- 

73 


74     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

ed  half-lengths  twice  as  long  as  they  ought  to 
be;  or  an  intended  hook  has  been  made  into  a 
circle,  or  a  circle  into  a  hook.  Some  stenog- 
raphers make  a  desperate  dash  in  the  beginning 
to  write  the  troublesome  word  in  longhand.  Then 
the  longhand  may  be  harder  to  read  than  if  it 
had  been  in  shorthand.  Or,  if  made  originally 
in  shorthand,  one  of  the  vowels  may  have  been 
thrown  into  the  wrong  position.  These  things 
are  almost  distracting  to  some  stenographers  of 
short  experience. '  '*  f 

When,  after  the  harrassing  encounter  with  a 
"hard  word,"  the  difficulties  thus  described  have 
been  overcome,  and  the  desperately-sought  out- 


♦In  my  essay  on  "The  Mastery  of  Shorthand,"  I  attributed 
this  language  to  an  English  author.  Later,  I  found  that  it 
was  part  of  an  essay  read  by  my  friend  Demming,  some  years 
ago,  before  the  New  Yorli  State  Stenographers'  Association. 
The  English  author  borrowed  the  passage  without  giving  due 
credit. 

+In  July  and  August,  1908,  the  Typewriter  &  Phonographic 
World  published  a  symposium  on  "What  Should  Constitute 
the  Best  System  of  Shorthand?"  The  question  was  addressed 
to  many  well-known  authors  and  reporters  with  the  stipula- 
tion that  each  answer  should  not  exceed  fifty  words.  The 
writer  of  the  extract  quoted  above,  Col.  II.  C.  Demming,  of 
Ilarrlsburg.  replied  to  the  question  as  follows: 

"Permit  me  to  state — from  an  experience  of  more  than 
forty  years — that  that  system  should  constitute  the  best 
system  of  shorthand  which  is  the  most  rapidly  and  easily 
written,  and  which  can  be  read  without  hesitation  or  mistalse. 
To  roach  this  result,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  forward  line 
movement  is  the  ideal ;  and  there  would  be  an  improvement 
if  the  forward  lines  could  be  written  without  reference  to 
shading   or   position." 

This  was  written  by  Col.  Demming  eleven  years  after  the 
extract  given   above   was   quoted   by    Mr.   Brown. — The  Pui- 


HOW  TO  WRITE  THE  "HARD  WORDS."      75 

line  has  been  finally  fixed  upon  paper,  the  writer 
finds  that  he  must  make  up  for  lost  time,  must 
strain  his  energies  to  write  perhaps  ten  or  fifteen 
words  in  the  time  usually  required  to  write  six 
or  eight.  The  struggle  with  the  refractory  out- 
line has  left  his  mind  flurried  and  worried ;  and 
it  does  not  easily  regain  its  ordinary  composure. 
Thus  the  "hard  word"  not  only  has  its  own 
sting,  but  it  leaves  "the  trail  of  the  serpent"  be- 
hind it. 

Will  the  Bother  Ever  Cease? 

Smarting  under  such  a  vexatious  experience, 
repeated  far  too  often,  the  young  writer  is  driv- 
en to  ask,  '  *  Shall  I  ever  reach  a  point  where  all 
the  words  will  be  as  easy  as  some  are  now?" 
No,  my  young  friend,  the  point  will  never  be 
reached  where  all  words  will  be  written  with 
equal  ease.  Continued  practice  will  make  many 
outlines  easy  which  at  first  were  troublesome; 
the  "hard  words,"  so  far  as  ordinary  matter  is 
concerned,  will  become  fewer  and  fewer.  But, 
after  writing  shorthand  for  years,  the  writer  will 
stiU  be  liable  from  time  to  time — in  technical 
matter,  possibly  dozens  of  times  a  day — to  jostle 
up  suddenly  against  some  strange  word  never 


76     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

before  written,  and  perhaps  never  before  heard, 
but  which  must  be  written  on  the  instant,  leg- 
ibly and  briefly.  To  do  this  requires,  of  course, 
a  masterly  command  of  stenographic  resources; 
yet  it  is  possible  for  the  stenographer  so  to  edu- 
cate himself  that  this  encounter  with  "hard 
words"  shall  lose  its  terror,  that  the  ordeal 
shall  no  longer  be  feared,  because  he  will  have 
at  his  command  the  resources  for  meeting  it  suc- 
cessfully. 

Wide  Verbal  Knowledge  Helps. 

The  difficulty  will  grow  less  and  less  as  the 
reporter  enlarges  his  familiarity  with  his  mother 
tongue,  and  as  he  becomes  acquainted  with  the 
terminology  of  the  different  subjects  about 
which  he  is  to  write.  When  a  word  has  been 
seen  or  heard,  though  never  before  stenograph- 
ieally  written,  its  outline  is  much  more  promptly 
fixed  upon  paper  than  when  the  word  is  strange, 
not  only  to  the  hand,  but  to  the  ear.  If,  for  in- 
stance, anthropomorpMsm  (a  word  not  uncom- 
mon in  theological  and  metaphj^sieal  discus- 
sions) should  fall  upon  the  ear  of  the  reporter 
as  an  utterly  strange  term,  he  would  probably 
fail  to  write  it,  however  distinctly  it  might  be 


HOW  TO  WRITE  THE  "HARD  WORDS."      77 

spoken,  because  he  would  fail  to  understand  it. 
But  if  the  word  were  already  somewhat  familiar 
to  eye  or  ear,  the  difficulty  of  writing  it  in  short- 
hand would  not  be  appalling;  and  even  if  writ- 
ten incorrectly,  it  would  still  be  correctly  read. 
Hence,  if  the  young  reporter  familiarizes  him- 
self in  advance  with  merely  the  sounds  of  any 
technical  terms  which  he  is  likely  to  meet  in 
reporting,  he  has  shorn  the  "hard  words"  of 
much  of  their  terror.  It  is  when  ear  and  hand 
are  both  puzzled  that  the  bother  is  greatest.  This 
is  well  illustrated  in  the  following  incidfent, 
narrated  by  a  well-known  stenographer,  Mr.  A. 
O.  Reser: 

"An  eminent  Bible  lecturer  told  me  the  other 
day  that  he  was  lecturing  last  summer  at  Mount 
Eagle,  Tenn.,  on  the  genealogy  of  the  Bible.  He 
started  out  with  Adam  and  passed  down  past 
Nebuchadnezzar  and  Belshazzar.  Mr.  Levering, 
the  lecturer,  said  that  after  he  had  commenced, 
he  noticed  that  the  audience  was  amused  at 
something,  and  he  did  not  know  what  it  was. 
After  the  meeting  was  over,  he  asked  some  of 
the  members  of  the  audience  what  amused  them. 
They  told  him  they  were  laughing  at  the  hercu- 
lean exertiKDus  of  the  reporter,  who  for  ten  min- 


78     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

utes  tried  to  report,  but  at  the  end  of  that  time 
threw  down  his  pencil  and  gave  it  up.  He  sim- 
ply could  not  do  it ;  not  from  inability  to  write, 
but  largely  because  of  inability  to  hear  and  un- 
derstand the  words  used." 

Common  Outlines  Must  Be  Memorized. 

While  it  would  be  an  impossible  task  to  learn 
in  advance  the  shorthand  forms  of  all  the  "hard 
words,"  every  young  writer  should  become  ac- 
quainted as  quickly  as  possible  with  the  outlines 
of  all  the  common  words,  including  all  ordinary 
word-signs  and  every-day  phrases;  and  for  this 
purpose  his  reading  and  writing  exercises,  if 
rightly  chosen,  should  be  made  thoroughly  fa- 
miliar by  continued  repetition.  In  learning  the 
common  words,  he  is  learning  the  principles 
upon  which  the  uncommon  words  must  be 
written.  Besides,  he  is  qualifying  himself  to 
"catch  up"  more  quickly  when  a  "hard  word" 
has  thrown  him  back ;  and  then,  too,  because  he 
can  readily  write  ordinarj^  words,  he  is  not  so 
far  behind  when  a  "hard  word"  strikes  him. 
Thus  the  stenographer  helps  himself  to  write  the 
"hard  words"  by  thoroughly  mastering  the  easy 
ones.    It  may  here  be  remarked  incidentally  that 


HOW  TO  WRITE  THE  "HARD  WORDS."      79 

the  liability  at  any  time  to  meet  a  "hard  word" 
is  one  strong  reason  for  cultivating  the  habit  of 
writing  as  little  behind  the  speaker  as  neces- 
sary. A  ' '  hard  word ' '  has  the  writer  at  a  great 
disadvantage  when  it  finds  him  already  lag- 
ging, holding  in  his  mind  eight  or  ten  words  still 
unwritten. 

Fundamental    Abbreviating    Principles   Must    Be 
Mastered. 

To  write  promptly  a  new  and  complex  outline 
requires  a  thorough  knowledge  and  ready  com- 
mand of  the  abbreviating  principles  of  the  short- 
hand system.  I  speak  of  ''abbreviating  princi- 
ples" as  distinguished  from  word-signs  and 
other  arbitrary  contractions.  How  and  when 
circles,  loops,  hooks,  half-lengths,  and  double- 
lengths,  may  or  may  not  be  used,  is  a  species  of 
knowledge  which,  though  often  despised  as  a 
part  of  "the  corresponding  style,"  is  indispen- 
sable not  only  to  the  learner  but  to  the  advanced 
reporter.  "Reporting  expedients,"  as  they  are 
called,  can  never  supply  the  place  of  these  sim- 
ple abbreviating  principles.  With  the  latter  at 
one's  fingers'  ends,  a  new  outline,  however  com- 
plex or  difficult,  may  generally  be  constructed 


80     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

without  serious  delay.  It  does  not  matter  for 
the  moment  if  an  outline  which,  in  the  midst  of 
hurried  speaking,  must  be  written  hurriedly  or 
not  at  all,  be  not  the  same  as  that  given  in  the 
student's  text-book  or  dictionary.  The  different 
consonants,  if  combined  somehow,  with  a  fair 
regard  to  rudimentary  principles,  will  form  a 
legible  outline.  The  one  thing  above  all  others 
which  distinguishes  the  stenographic  athlete 
from  the  stenographic  weakling  is  the  readiness 
with  which  the  athlete,  amid  a  torrent  of  lan- 
guage, writes  a  "hard  word"  which  he  has  never 
written  before.  And  this  readiness  comes  large- 
ly from  a  thorough  mastery,  not  merely  intellec- 
tual but  manual,  of  radical  principles.  Mere  in- 
tellectual mastery  of  a  principle  counts  for  al- 
most nothing  in  an  art  like  shorthand,  which  de- 
pends largely  upon  manual  skill  exercised  with 
ahnost  inconceivable  promptness. 

Should  We  Write  "Hard  Words"  in  Longhand? 

It  has  been  suggested  that  "a  reporter  may 
take  time  occasionally  to  write  a  hard  word  in 
longhand."  But  longhand,  as  a  makeshift  sub- 
stitute for  shorthand,  is  never  the  refuge  of  a 
thoroughly-trained  stenographer.  To  fix  beyond 
doubt  the  spoiling  of  a  proper  name,  to  make  a 


HOW  TO  WRITE  THE  "HARD  WORDS."      81 

possibly  dubious  word  plain  to  his  transcribing 
assistant,  or  for  some  similar  purpose,  the  ac- 
complished reporter  may  occasionally  write  a 
word  in  longhand,  but  never  because  he  is  stag- 
gered in  the  application  of  shorthand  principles, 
and  cannot  devise  for  an  uncommon  word  a 
suitable  stenographic  outline.  A  word  nervous- 
ly and  hurriedly  written  in  longhand,  because 
the  stenographer  is  staggered,  involves  general- 
ly the  loss  of  succeeding  words,  and,  besides, 
proves  often  undecipherable. 

Get  It  "Down  Somehow." 

One  of  the  most  valuable  habits  for  the  young 
stenographer,  and  one  which  he  should  assidu- 
ously cultivate  in  taking  dictation  as  well  as  in 
reporting,  is  that  of  attacking  promptly  and 
boldly  an  uncommon  or  difficult  word  and  get- 
ting it  down  somehow.  If  the  writer  be  well 
schooled,  the  outline  thus  promptly  achieved 
will  generally  violate  no  principle,  although  it 
may  not  be  the  briefest  form  possible.  And  even 
though  a  shorthand  rule  be  for  the  moment  vio- 
lated, this  is  far  better,  if  the  outline  be  legible, 
than  that  time  be  lost  in  hesitation.  Sometimes 
the  reporter,  hard  pressed  to  keep  up,  must  get 


82     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

a  word  down  "by  hook  or  by  crook,"  even  though 
the  "hooks"  and  "crooks"  may  be  somewhat  at 
variance  with  the  canons  of  his  system.  Of  short- 
hand it  is  distinctly  and  emphatically  true  that 
"he  who  hesitates  is  lost."  An  accomplished  re- 
porter, and  a  phonographic  author  of  no  mean 
standing  (Mr.  George  C.  Thornton)  has  said  that 
we  should  "make  it  a  rule  to  write  proper  forms; 
but  we  must  violate  this  rule  ruthlessly,  rather 
than  run  the  risk  of  falling  farther  behind  than 
can  be  done  with  entire  safety."  "It  is  better," 
he  says,  "to  write  an  outline  in  the  fullest  possi- 
ble manner,  rather  than  hesitate  for  even  the 
most  trifling  period  of  time  for  the  purpose  of 
recalling  the  text-book  forms." 

"The  Faculty  of  Keeping  On." 

The  habit  of  coining  to  a  standstill  because  a 
word  is  uncommon  and  somewhat  difficult  to 
write  is  one  of  the  most  fatal  that  a  young 
stenographer  can  acquire.  Many  a  learner  prac- 
ticing for  speed  interrupts  the  dictation  again 
and  again  so  that  he  may  settle  nice  questions  in 
regard  to  dubious  outlines.  Occasionally  time  is 
taken  to  look  up  the  doubtful  word  in  a  short- 
hand dictionary.     Those  who  indulge  this  dan- 


HOW  TO  WRITE  THE  "HARD  WORDS."      83 

gerous  habit  should  ponder  well  the  following 
advice  of  Mr.  Fred  Pitman :  * '  Stopping  to  con- 
sider the  form  of  a  word  while  following  a 
speaker  is  almost  sure  to  result  in  the  loss  of 
some  words  which  follow.  When  the  reporter 
meets  with  complex  or  long  words,  he  should 
avoid  hesitation,  and  exercise  the  faculty  of 
keeping  on.  This  is  a  faculty  which  must  be 
carefully  cultivated  in  one's  writing  from  dicta- 
tion. How  to  deal  promptly  with  perplexing 
words  is  a  problem  which  must  be  mastered  by 
anyone  who  would  become  a  verbatim  reporter. 
One  hard  word,  if  the  writer  allows  himself  to 
pause  and  hesitate,  may  cause  the  loss  of  a  dozen 
words  following  it." 

Don't  Seek  the  Briefest  Outline. 

The  staggering  hesitation  of  the  young  sten- 
ographer when  called  on  to  write  a  new  word, 
arises  often  from  an  undefined  notion  that  he 
must,  though  writing  the  word  for  the  first  time, 
get  down  the  briefest  and  best  outline  that  the 
system  will  allow.  It  is  of  vital  importance  that 
such  a  notion  be  dismissed.  A  long  outline  for 
a  new  or  strange  word  is  something  that  no 
stenographer  should  be  afraid  of.  Frequently,  in 


84     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

the  hurry  of  note-taking,  a  long  outline  which 
suggests  itself  readily,  is  more  quickly  written 
than  a  shorter  one  which  requires  the  writer  to 
stop  and  think.  Indeed,  many  reporters  prefer 
to  write  a  new  word  very  fully  the  first  time  it 
occurs.  They  believe  that  in  such  cases  a  full 
outline  is  more  likely  to  be  readily  legible.  If 
the  word  occurs  again  and  again,  the  outline 
may  gradually  be  more  and  more  abbreviated. 
Thus  a  difficult  technical  term,  newly  encoun- 
tered, may  be  written  one  way  at  the  top  of  the 
note-taker's  page,  another  way  at  the  middle, 
and  still  another  way  at  the  bottom. 

The  Bugbear  of  "Position." 

The  task  of  the  young  writer,  on  meeting  a 
new  and  difficult  word,  is  made  all  the  more  per- 
plexing, if  he  has  unfortunately  been  misled  into 
the  belief  that  every  outline,  long  or  short,  fre- 
quent or  infrequent,  ambiguous  or  unmistaka- 
ble, must  be  written  in  the  position  correspond- 
ing with  its  accented  or  leading  vowel.  If  thus 
mis-schooled  as  to  the  requirements  of  the  "re- 
porting style."  he  must  not  only  think  out  the 
whole  outline  before  starting  to  write  it,  but, 
with  the  outline  mentally  suspended,  must  de- 


HOW  TO  WRITE  THE  "HARD  WORDS."      85 

eide  which  of  perhaps  half  a  dozen  vowels 
(heard  possibly  none  too  distinctly)  is  the  one 
which  should  determine  the  "reporting  position" 
of  the  outline.  I  pity  the  thousands  of  young 
writers  who  to-day  are  being  educated  into  a 
habit  which  thus  makes  needlessly  difficult  the 
acquisition  of  speed.  I  meet  such  mis-educated 
young  writers  from  time  to  time.  I  ask  them  to 
write  some  word,  not  very  difficult,  but  which 
they  have  never  written  before;  and  they  hesi- 
tate painfully.  The  pen  seems  unwilling  or  un- 
able to  touch  the  paper.  Mind  and  hand  appear 
paralyzed.  "What  boggles  you?"  I  ask;  and 
they  reply,  "Oh,  I  can  write  the  outline,  but  I 
am  trying  to  think  of  the  position ! ' '  This  is  often 
their  pitiable  plight  after  they  have  been  writ- 
ing shorthand  for  months  and  months!  They 
deludedly  fancy  they  are  being  educated  to  write 
"as  reporters  write";  but  alas  for  any  reporter 
(I  do  not  personally  know  any  such)  who  has 
acquired,  among  his  "reporting  habits,"  that  of 
pondering  about  the  "position"  of  a  new  and 
difficult  word  before  putting  it  upon  paper!* 

"Divide  and  Conquer." 

"Whatever  may  be  the  dicta  of  certain  teach- 


♦These  remarks  do  not  apply  to  systems  which  are  written 
without  the  "Bugbear  of  Position." — The  PuUishers. 


86     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

ers  and  text-books  on  this  subject,  a  vast  ma- 
jority of  the  practical  reporters  of  the  country- 
do  not  thus  understand  "the  reporter's  rule  of 
position."  In  dealing  with  a  new  word  of  con- 
siderable length  and  difficult  construction, 
these  writers  (following  the  long-settled  canons 
of  standard  text-books  and  recognizing  no  such 
spurious  "rule  of  position")  meet  the  difficulty 
in  a  simpler  way  than  by  first  thinking  out  the 
consonant  outline;  then,  with  the  outline  men- 
tally suspended,  running  over  all  the  vowels  to 
ascertain  the  accented  or  leading  one;  and  then 
placing  the  outline  in  such  a  position  as  that 
vowel  is  supposed  to  require.  These  writers,  when 
they  meet  a  long  and  rare  word  like  perspicacity, 
tergiversation,  paradoxicalness,  supererogatory, 
duplicative,  follow  the  maxim  which  applies 
often  in  shorthand  as  elsewhere,  "Divide  and 
conquer."  Thinking  nothing  in  the  first  instance 
of  the  vowels — thinking  nothing  even  of  the  eon- 
sonants,  except  the  initial  stroke,  simple  or  com- 
pound— these  writers,  as  soon  as  the  word  falls 
upon  the  ear,  place  the  pen  unhesitatingly  upon 
the  paper,  and,  starting  the  word  in  the  second 
or  neutral  position — the  easiest,  the  natural  po- 
sition—tliey  proceed  to  think  out  the  outline,  if 


HOW  TO  WRITE  THE  "HARD  WORDS."      87 

need  be,  syllable  by  syllable  or  stroke  by  stroke 
as  they  write.  Mind  and  pen  do  their  work  sim- 
ultaneously and  in  concert.  In  the  word  imper- 
ceptible, for  instance,  the  different  parts  might 
be  thought  out,  and  written  step  by  step,  thus: 
Im-per-cept-ible.  In  this  way,  each  syllable  be- 
comes, as  it  were,  a  separate  little  word ;  and  an 
outline  which,  taken  as  a  whole,  would  seem  ap- 
pallingly long  and  difficult,  proves  comparative- 
ly easy  when  thus  resolved  into  its  several  parts. 
The  exact  syllabic  divisions  which  may  be 
adopted  in  thus  writing  a  word  for  the  first 
time  under  speed  pressure,  are  comparatively 
unimportant.  Nor  is  it  essential  in  the  first 
writing  of  a  word  that  the  consonants  of  each 
syllable  be  expressed  in  absolutely  the  briefest 
way. 

Ordinarily,  with  a  practised  writer,  the  mind 
will  keep  pace  with,  if  it  does  not  outrun,  the 
hand,  so  that  between  the  syllabic  parts  of  the 
word  the  pen  need  not  pause.  But  suppose  an 
expert  writer,  following  this  method,  may  occa- 
sionally pause,  with  pen  upon  paper,  at  the  end 
of  a  S3''llable  or  a  stroke,  until  the  succeeding  one 
is  thought  out ;  is  not  this  far  better  than  a  stag- 
gering and  possibly  unsuccessful  attempt  to  pre- 


88     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

construct  by  a  single  grasp  of  the  mind,  the 
whole  outline  of  a  difficult  word,  before  even 
beginning  to  write  it  ?* 

Vowel  "Indication"  Often  a  Delusion. 

If  it  be  said  that  this  method  of  writing  a  dif- 
ficult word  piecemeal,  and  without  thinking  in 
the  first  instance  of  "position,"  makes  no  pro- 
vision for  "indicating"  omitted  vowels,  I  answer 
it  is  far  better,  when  a  strange  word  is  met  with, 
that  the  "indication"  of  the  omitted  vowel  be 
not  attempted  than  that  the  writer,  by  ponder- 
ing hesitation,  should  fail  to  fix  upon  paper  the 
consonant  outline,  or,  while  slowly  determining 
both  outline  and  "position,"  should  lose  essen- 
tial words  which  follow.  I  answer  further  that, 
in  many  eases  the  prompt  writing  of  the  outline 
will  leave  time  for  the  actual  insertion  of  the 
leading  vowel,  which,  with  a  new  or  rare  word, 
is  far  better  than  any  imperfect,  and,  at  best, 
vague  "indication."  I  venture  to  affirm  that  all 
practical  reporters,  when  writing  for  the  first 


*Tlio  mothod  here  described  of  "tackling"  rare  or  difficult 
words  is  pnuticed.  I  believe,  by  the  majority  of  experienced 
reporters;  but  I  do  not  Ivdow  that  I  have  ever  seen  it  de- 
scribed in  print,  excopt  in  a  magazine  article  of  Mr.  A.  .T. 
Barnes,  the  well-known  author  and  teacher  of  St.  Louis, 
Missouri,  some  of  whose  ideas  and  expressions  1  have  taken 
the  liberty  of  using,  with  this  acknowledgement. 


HOW  TO  WRITE  THE  "HARD  WORDS."      89 

time  any  out-of-the-way  word,  aim  to  express,  if 
possible,  the  characteristic  and  significant  vow- 
el, rather  than  trust  to  any  mere  ''indication"  of 
it;  for  ''indication"  in  many  cases  means  simply 
that,  when  the  word  is  to  be  deciphered,  not 
only  must  one  of  four,  five  or  six  possible  vowels 
be  fixed  upon  by  guess,  but  the  syllabic  place  of 
the  accented  vowel  in  a  word  of  perhaps  five  or 
six  syllables  must  also  be  guessed  at.* 

While  putting  a  word  promptly  upon  paper  in 
the  manner  I  have  described,  the  writer  inaudi- 
bly,  and  perhaps  unconsciously,  pronounces  each 
syllable  to  himself ;  and  having  thus,  while  writ- 
ing the  consonant  outline,  rehearsed  incidental- 
ly the  vowels  with  the  consonants,  the  essential 
vowel  is  generally  clear  before  his  mind  as  soon 
as  the  outline  is  finished,  and  can  be  instantly 
inserted  if  time  allows.  Thus  an  outline,  which, 
ignoring  artificial  rules  of  "position,"  is  so  vo- 
calized as  to  express  the  essential  vowel,  will 
often  be  written  in  less  time  than  an  unvocal- 
ized  outline  carefully  placed  in  "position," 
which,  theoretically,  is  supposed  to  "indicate" 
the  omitted  vowel,  but  whose  "indication"  is, 


*The  difficulties  mentioned  in  this  passage  are  peculiar  to 
Pitmanic  shorthand. — The  Publishers. 


90     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

for  an  unfamiliar  word  (such  as  a  proper  name), 
generally  vague,  unsuggestive,  and  practically 
useless.  There  is  a  "reporter's  rule  of  position" 
by  which  a  few  hundred  brief  and  common  out- 
lines are  saved  from  the  need  of  habitual  vo- 
calization by  resorting  to  the  exceptional  de- 
vice of  three  difierent  positions,  while  thousands 
of  other  words  of  unmistakable  outlines — a  vast 
majority  indeed  of  the  words  of  the  English 
language — are  written  in  the  second  and  easiest 
position,  without  reference  to  accented  or  lead- 
ing vowels,  and  are  readily  recognized  by  their 
consonant  outlines  alone.  The  genuine  "rule  of 
position,"  as  thus  practiced,  will  be  found  fully 
explained  in  most  of  the  standard  instruction- 
books.    It  needs  no  further  discussion  here. 

Some  Minor  Difficulties  to  be  Met. 

In  writing  a  word  for  the  first  time,  medial 
hooks  or  loops  should  be  used  very  sparingly, 
because  often  they  seriously  retard  the  flow  of 
the  outline.  If,  for  instance,  in  hurriedly  writ- 
ing penetraiion,  the  n-hook  should  be  introduced 
in  the  syllable  "pen,"  the  next  part  of  the  out- 
line, "tr, "  could  not  be  written  in  the  only  prop- 
er way,  with  the  r-hook.    Thus  an  awkward,  un- 


HOW  TO  WRITE  THE  "HARD  WORDS."      91 

Sometimes,  when  a  hard  word  as  uttered  is 
entirely  strange  or  unfamiliar,  the  writer  may 
be  in  doubt  whether  the  sounds  which  reach  his 
ear  constitute  one  word  or  more  than  one;  in 
w^hich  case,  without  stopping  to  ponder  upon 
the  question,  he  may,  upon  the  impulse  of  the 
moment,  write  the  combination  of  sounds  either 
as  one  word  or  as  several.  The  word  or  words 
intended  may  often  be  precisely  ascertained  af- 
terward from  books  of  reference  or  by  personal 
inquiry. 

It  ought  to  be  added  that,  in  writing  "hard 
words,"  a  thorough  familiarity  with  the  vowel- 
signs,  so  as  to  use  them  without  the  least  hesi- 
tation, is  often  absolutely  indispensable.  When 
a  word,  because  unfamiliar,  is  indistinctly  un- 
derstood, the  vowels  are  generally  more  clearly 
heard  than  the  consonants,  and  though  the  con- 
sonant outline  may  be  incorrect,  a  clearly-ex- 
pressed vowel  may  be  so  wonderfully  suggestive 
as  to  settle  beyond  doubt  the  word  intended.* 

Special  Practice  Upon  "Hard  Words." 

But  "how  to  write  the  hard  words"  must  be 

learned  practically.     The  mere  reading  of  rules 

♦Writers  of  a  connective  vowel  system  will  appreciate  this 
strong  endorsement  of  the  importance  of  the  vowels. — The 
Publishers. 


92     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

on  the  subject  can  give  one  nothing  more  than 
theory.  The  student  must  learn  how  to  ' '  tackle ' ' 
a  difficulty  by  "tackling"  it.  If  he  would  learn 
to  write  "hard  words"  off-hand,  he  must  from 
tiilie  to  time  practice  the  writing  of  such  words 
off-hand.  To  attack  "hard  words"  boldly,  as 
soon  as  heard,  and  instantaneously  to  originate 
some  legible  outline,  is  something  quite  differ- 
ent from  attempting  to  creep  around  the  "hard 
word"  mountain  by  memorizing  outlines  which 
have  been  constructed  by  some  one  else.  If  the 
student  would  acquire  the  art  of  writing  "hard 
words"  without  needless  loss  of  time,  a  part  of 
his  daily  drill  should  be  to  write  from  dictation 
a  certain  number  of  such  words — words  not  so 
rare  as  never  to  occur  in  practice,  and  not  so 
common  as  to  be  a  part  of  one's  every-day  vo- 
cabulary. As  each  difficult  word  is  dictated 
to  him,  he  should,  without  stopping  to  deliber- 
ate, begin  at  once  to  write  it,  and  proceeding 
with  as  little  pause  as  possible,  he  should  go  on 
and  finish  it.  Such  an  exercise  might  be  so  ar- 
ranged that  the  words  introduced  shall  gradu- 
ally become  harder  and  harder.- 

Practice    of    this    sort    will    develop    in    the 
writer  what  has  already  been  spoken  of  as  "the 


HOW  TO  WRITE  THE  "HARD  WORDS."     93 

faculty  of  keeping  on, ' '  the  faculty  of  grappling 
a  hard  word  promptly  and  unflinchingly,  and  at 
once  achieving  some  outline — brief  and  correct, 
if  possible,  but  at  any  rate  legible.  Under  this 
sort  of  practice,  the  habit  of  stumbling  and 
staggering  whenever  a  new  word  is  met  should 
finally  disappear.  If  such  practice,  when  at- 
tempted, should  show — as  in  some  cases  it  may 
— that  the  student  has  had  insufficient  drill  on 
the  abbreviating  principles — if,  for  instance,  he 
sometimes  writes  an  1-hook  instead  of  an  r-hook, 
or  an  n-hook  instead  of  an  f-hook — if  he  fails 
sometimes  to  make  the  circle,  the  loop,  the  half- 
length  or  the  double-length  where  plain  princi- 
ple demands  them — ^then  he  is  unprepared  for 
anything  in  the  nature  of  "speed  practice";  and 
if  he  is  wise,  he  will  turn  back  to  those  rudi- 
mentary rules  which  neither  the  veteran  reporter 
nor  the  stenographic  tyro  can  ever  dispense 
with,  and  will  never  leave  them  until  they  are 
mastered. 


THE  SPEEDY  HAND 


For  the  most  rapid  stenographic  writing, 
there  must  of  course  be  considerable  agility  of 
hand.  The  lack  of  this  does  not  show  itself  in  the 
beginning  of  the  student's  practice,  because  at 
that  stage  he  cannot  think  out  his  shorthand 
fast  enough  to  keep  even  a  slow  hand  busy;  the 
hand,  however  inexpert,  awaits  the  slow  action 
of  the  mind.  Nor  does  this  lack  of  manual  fa- 
cility show  itself  decidedly  during  the  amanuen- 
sis stage,  because  for  the  speed  of  the  amanuen- 
sis very  little  special  training  of  the  hand  is 
needed,  if  in  ordinary  writing  a  fairly  easy  and 
free  command  of  the  pen  has  been  acquired.  But 
for  the  attainment  of  high  reporting  speed  much 
manual  facility  is  indispensable.  Where  ex- 
ceptional executive  power  is  sought,  special  man- 
ual discipline  is  as  important  to  the  student 
of  shorthand  as  to  the  pianist. 

It  may  be  true,  as  a  writer  in  the  "National 
Stenographer"  (May,  ]S96)  remarks,  that  "a 
naturally  slow  hand  will  never  develop  sufficient 
04 


THE  SPEEDY  HAND.  95 

speed  for  verbatim  reporting";  but  no  one  has 
a  right  to  accuse  himself  of  having  "a  naturally 
slow  hand, ' '  while  the  fact  may  be  that  his  hand 
is  simply  untrained  or  mistrained.  A  "natural- 
ly" agile  hand  can  be  so  mismanaged,  so  handi- 
capped by  bad  habits,  so  held  back  by  poorly- 
learned  and  poorly-remembered  shorthand,  that 
its  natural  agility  cannot  show  itself.  Many  a 
shorthand  writer  who  reproaches  himself  with 
slow-handedness  could  move  his  hand  freely 
enough  if  he  could  think  promptly  what  to 
write. 

If  any  slow  writer  of  shorthand  wishes  to  de- 
cide whether  his  slowness  has  its  cause  in  the 
hand  or  in  the  mind,  he  can  easily  adapt  a  trust- 
worthy test.  Let  him  have  read  to  him  a  limited 
quantity  of  new  matter — two  or  three  hundred 
words,  and  let  him  note  the  exact  speed  with 
which  he  is  able  to  write  it.  Then,  after  care- 
fully correcting  his  errors,  let  him  copy  the  same 
matter  in  its  corrected  form  twenty,  thirty,  for- 
ty, or  fifty  times.  After  thus  familiarizing  him- 
self with  the  matter  so  as  to  write  it  without  a 
particle  of  hesitation,  let  him  have  it  again  dic- 
tated to  him.  He  will  probably  find  that  on  this 
last  trial  he  can  write  it  from  dictation  twice  as 


96     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

fast  as  at  first.  As  many  strokes  are  written, 
and  manual  motions  made,  in  one-half  the  time 
required  at  first.  Why?  Not  because  the  hand 
has  developed  in  half  an  hour  or  an  hour  a 
doubled  capacity  for  rapid  movement.  The 
simple  explanation  is  that  the  mind  no  long- 
er hesitates;  the  hand  is  no  longer  held  back  by 
slow  shorthand  thinking;  the  writing  has  be- 
come automatic.  Such  a  trial  will  demonstrate 
to  any  writer  the  real  speed  capacity  of  his  hand 
at  the  particular  time  of  making  the  trial — not 
necessarily  the  limit  of  its  speed  capacity  after 
it  shall  have  undergone  proper  discipline;  for 
there  may  be  unconsciously  to  himself  bad  ma- 
nipulative habits  which  need  to  be  removed  and 
methods  of  manual  training  which  he  needs 
faithfully  to  pursue. 

The  Longhand  Twist. 

In  the  shorthand  writer's  manual  discipline 
the  first  step  is  to  get  rid  of  certain  habits  often 
acquired  in  writing  longhand,  and  which,  unless 
corrected,  must  inake  high  stenographic  speed 
a  physical  impossibility.  It  may  be  desirable, 
for  a  time  at  least,  that  longhand  practice  be  as 


THE  SPEEDY  HAND.  97 

far  as  possible  suspended,  so  that  a  new  set  of 
manual  habits  may  be  the  more  easily  acquired. 
One  of  the  habits  which  shorthand  students 
need  especially  to  overcome  arises  from  the  pe- 
culiar slant  of  the  longhand  characters.  In  or- 
der to  give  these  their  ordinary  forward  inclina- 
tion, the  fingers  and  the  hand  are  usually  twist- 
ed to  the  right,  with  the  penhandle  pointing  to 
the  shoulder,  or  sometimes  to  the  breast.  But 
as  the  shorthand  characters  are  written  in  al- 
most every  direction — probably  more  of  them 
with  a  baekwaa^d  inclination  or  with  a  horizon- 
tal motion  than  with  a  forward  slope,  the  hand 
and  fingers,  in  being  educated  for  shorthand 
writing,  must  be  emancipated  from  the  fixed  po- 
sition to  which  they  have  been  accustomed  in 
longhand.  For  shorthand  writing  the  penholder 
should  generally,  though  not  constantly,  point 
in  a  line  with  the  forearm,  so  that,  without 
changing  its  position,  a  phonographic  d  or  h  can 
be  readily  made.* 

Aerial  Pen  Twirling. 

It  scarcely  need  be  said  that  the  shorthand 
writer    must    absolutely    discard    the    habit    in 

♦These  remarks  apply  only  to  geometrical  systems.  It  Is 
not  necessary  for  writers  of  a  system,  founded  on  the  same 
elements  as  longhand  is,  "to  get  rid  of  certain  habits  acquired 
In  writing  longhand  which,  unless  corrected,  must  make  high 
stenographic  speed  a  physical  impossibility." — The  Publishers. 


98     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

which  some  longhand  writers  seem  to  take  pride 
— a  useless  and  ridiculous  fashion  of  lifting  the 
hand  an  inch  or  two  from  the  paper,  and  wig- 
gling or  twirling  it  in  mid-air  as  a  preparation 
for  the  writing  of  a  word  or  a  letter.  These  pen- 
pirouettes,  whatever  purpose  they  may  serve  in 
connection  with  longhand  (and  I  believe  the 
most  rapid  longhand  writers  do  not  indulge 
in  them),  have  certainly  no  magic  power  to  aid 
in  the  correct,  symmetrical  or  rapid  shaping  of 
shorthand  characters.  This  preparatory  twirl- 
ing or  poising  of  the  pen  (indulged  in  by  so 
many  longhand  writers)  seems  to  be  an  incident 
of  the  much-lauded  "arm  movement,"  or  "mus- 
cular movement,"  and  is  to  my  mind  a  confes- 
sion of  the  unsteadiness  and  inexactness  of  "the 
arm  movement"  as  a  letter-forming  movement. 
I  do  not  disparage  the  great  importance  of  a 
free  arm  in  order  to  transport  the  hand  smooth- 
ly and  pauselessly  across  the  page;  but  any 
movement  which  in  longhand  requires  that  the 
stroke  to  be  written  must  be  rehearsed  and  pre- 
pared for  by  a  species  of  aerial  gymnastics,  while 
the  writing  is  momentarily  suspended,  and  be- 
fore the  pen  touches  the  paper,  is  evidently  un- 
suited  to  shorthand  writing.     This  preparatory 


THE  SPEEDY  HAND.  99 

poising  of  the  pen  is  thus  approvingly  described 
by  one  of  the  writing  masters: 

'^Practice  the  movement  with  the  pen  in  the 
air;  then  take  a  good  aim  and  fire  to  hit  the 
mark.  The  same  rules  will  in  a  measure  apply 
to  writing  with  'the  muscular  movement'  that 
apply  to  rifle  practice ;  namely,  a  steady,  nervy 
movement,  a  keen  eye,  and  true  aim." 

The  aerial  rehearsal  of  the  strokes  about  to 
be  written — the  preparatory  shaping  of  the 
characters  **in  the  air"  before  the  pen  touches 
the  paper — is  evidently  what  this  master  of  the 
"muscular  movement"  means  by  "taking  aim." 
But  for  such  "taking  aim,"  the  shorthand  writer 
has  no  time.  He  must  fire  without  waiting  to 
"take  aim."  So  long  as  he  habitually  stops  to 
steady  his  rifle  and  deliberately  "take  aim,"  he 
will  not  bag  any  stenographic  game. 

Pen=Gripping. 

Another  of  the  bad  habits  which  the  student 
may  need  to  get  rid  of,  is  too  tight  gripping  of 
his  pen  or  pencil.  As  Thomas  Allen  Reed 
says,  "Some  writers  grasp  their  pen  or  pencil 
so  tightly  that  an  easy  and  flowing  style  is 
never  acquired."    This  is  a  common  fault  with 


100   THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

both  longhand  writers  and  shorthand  writers. 
"With  beginners  in  stenography,  it  may  be  either 
caused  or  aggravated  by  the  concentrated  men- 
tal strain  attending  the  mastering  of  a  new  sys- 
tem of  writing,*  This  pen-gripping,  involving 
as  it  does  needless  muscular  effort,  tends  to 
promote  an  inartistic  style  of  writing,  inter- 
feres with  the  acquisition  of  speed,  and  induces 
undue  and  premature  fatigue,  saying  nothing 
of  the  ultimate  danger  of  pen  paralysis  from 
the  unnecessary,  excessive  and  long-continued 
muscular  strain. 

Finger  Action. 

The  habit  of  pen-gripping  has  this  further  dis- 
advantage: it  prevents  the  free  flexing  of  the 
two  writing  fingers  and  the  thumb,  which  should 
be  pliable  and  supple  in  order  to  contribute 
their  share  to  neat  and  rapid  shorthand.  This 
tight  grasping  of  the  pen  or  pencil  seems  to  arise 
in  many  oases  from  a  mistaken  effort  to  write 
entirely  '^from  the  arm."  The  free  action  of  the 
writing  fingers  is  still  further  obstructed  if  (as 


*B.v  ft  "new  system  of  writing"  we  suppose  Mr.  Brown 
means  the  jrewmetrical  style  of  penmanship  to  which  he  re- 
ferred in  speaking  of  the  "'longhand  twist."  It  is  also  im- 
portant to  note  that  absence  of  distinctions  between  light 
and  heavy  strokes  helps  to  overcome  the  tendency  to  grip 
the  pen. — The  Publishers. 


THE  SPEEDY  HAND.  101 

is  too  common)  the  penhandle  or  pencil  is  al- 
lowed to  rest  fixedly  below  the  knuckle — in  the 
crotch,  as  it  may  be  called,  between  the  knuckle 
and  the  thumb.  If,  avoiding  this  position,  the 
pen  is  held  so  that  it  may  roll,  as  it  were,  upon 
the  side  of  the  knuckle  as  the  fingers  are  extend- 
ed or  contracted,  a  wonderful  sweep  of  finger 
action  may  be  obtained,  unspeakably  useful  in 
the  shaping  of  many  of  the  shorthand  charac- 
ters. Some  of  the  writing  masters  have  so  great 
a  horror  of  what  they  call  the  ''finger  move- 
ment" (I  do  not  favor  a  vicious  finger  movement 
any  more  than  they  do)  that  they  give  no  atten- 
tion to  cultivating  the  flexibility  of  the  fingers 
and  thumb,  saying  to  their  pupils  that  ''the  fin- 
gers will  take  care  of  themselves, "  "  you  are  sure 
to  use  the  fingers  enough."  Without  stopping 
to  dispute  the  infallibility  of  the  writing  mas- 
ters within  their  special  province  (the  teaching 
of  longhand),  I  affirm,  from  personal  observa- 
tion of  many  a  shorthand  writer  attempting  to 
write  rapid  stenography  with  inflexible  fingers, 
that  in  shorthand  the  fingers  unfortunately  do 
not  "take  care  of  themselves."  I  affirm  further 
that,  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  ease  of  move- 
ment, for  the  purpose  of  securing  an  easy  lift- 


102  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED 

ing  of  the  pen  (which  is  best  accomplished  by 
a  mere  extension  or  lifting  of  the  fingers  with- 
out any  lifting  of  the  hand),  and  for  the  purpose 
of  accomplishing  a  facile  formation  of  the 
shorthand  characters,  the  fingers  and  the  thumb 
should  be  entirely  flexible,  ready  to  do  their 
proper  share  in  the  act  of  writing. 

In  these  days  when  we  hear  so  much  about 
"writing  from  the  shoulder,"  about  "the  arm 
movement,"  "the  muscular  movement,"  etc.,  it 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  those  nimble  little 
instruments,  the  fingers,  so  highly  valued  in 
every  other  manual  art  because  of  their  adapta- 
tion to  quick  and  delicate  movements,  can  serve 
as  important  adjuncts  (I  do  not  claim  that  they 
should  be  the  sole  machinery)  in  symmetrical 
and  ripad  shorthand  writing.  Some  of  the  most 
rapid  stenographic  penmen,  including  one  of 
whom  it  has  been  said  that  "in  the  making  of 
shorthand  notes,  no  human  hand  was  ever  more 
artistic  and  skillful."  have  been  remarkable  for 
the  magnificent  sweep  of  their  deft  fingers.  (See 
remarks  of  Eugene  Davis,  in  "The  Missing  Link 
in  Shorthand."  upon  Joseph  E.  Lyons,  deceased.) 

In  defense  of  a  vicious  "finger  movement,"  as 
described  by  a  writing  master  of  my  acquaint- 


THE   SPEEDY  HAND.  103 

anee,  I  have  nothing  to  say.  "Place  the  hand," 
he  says,  "on  the  desk,  resting  firmly  on  the  side 
of  the  little  finger  and  side  of  the  palm  of  the 
hand.  Now,  without  the  least  movement  of  the 
hand,  write  one,  two  or  three  letters ;  then  slide 
or  drag  the  hand  along  to  a  new  resting  place, 
and  repeat  the  writing  of  several  letters  before 
again  changing  the  position  of  the  hand.  This 
is  what  writing  masters  condemn  as  the  finger 
movement. ' '  Of  course  there  is  a  vast  difference 
between  a  vicious  finger  movement,  as  thus 
described,  and  that  free  and  natural  play  of 
the  fingers  without  which  shorthand  writing 
cannot  be  done  with  artistic  ease,  and  with  no 
premature  and  unnecessary  fatigue. 

The  Gliding  Movement. 

The  proper  management  of  the  fingers,  the 
hand  and  the  arm  (upon  the  combined  action  of 
which  the  best  shorthand  writing  depends)  can- 
not receive  from  the  ambitious  shorthand  writer 
too  much  attention.  While  the  fingers  should 
be  allowed  to  yield  themselves  flexibly  and 
gracefully  to  the  motions  of  the  pen,  any  at- 
tempt to  write  exclusively  with  the  fingers  must 
result  in  a  cramped  and  slow  movement.    The 


104  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

hand  should  learn  to  carry  itself  smoothly  across 
the  page,  with  as  little  pressure  as  possible,  the 
little  finger  resting  lightly  upon  the  paper  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  line,  so  that  the 
hand,  propelled  by  the  forearm,  may  deftly  glide 
along  without  hitch  or  hesitation.  With  many 
writers,  however,  the  hand  bears  so  heavily 
upon  the  paper  as  to  forbid  anything  like  ''glid- 
ing," so  that  as  soon  as  a  few  characters  have 
been  executed,  the  hand,  by  a  comparatively  slow 
and  laborious  movement,  must  be  restationed. 
When  the  fingers  can  be  stretched  no  farther 
sideward,  the  little  finger,  upon  which,  as  on  a 
fixed  prop,  the  hand  has  heavily  rested,  is  either 
completely  lifted,  carried  an  inch  or  two  for- 
ward, and  replaced  upon  the  paper;  or,  without 
leaving  the  paper,  it  is  dragged  an  inch  or  two 
toward  the  right,  to  remain  in  its  new  position 
until  required  to  make  another  laborious  little 
journey  as  soon  as  a  few  more  characters  have 
been  written.  During  each  of  these  hitches,  of 
course,  the  writing  is  completely  suspended  un- 
til the  hand  can  be  restationed. 

In  the  movement  which  the  student  must  seek 
to  cultivate,  the  hand,  resting  lightly  on  the  outer 
edge  of  the  little  finger,  glides    (no  word  can 


THE  SPEEDY  HAND.  105 

better  express  the  proper  movement)  steadily 
over  the  paper.  Until  the  end  of  the  line  is 
reached,  the  little  finger  is  not  lifted;  so  that 
the  writing  goes  on  without  needless  interrup- 
tion. The  wrist  does  not  touch  the  paper.  The 
hand  receives  the  slight  support  it  needs  from 
the  little  finger,  whose  main  function,  however, 
is  not  so  much  to  support  the  hand  as  to  steady 
it.  The  light,  smooth,  regular,  continuous,  glid- 
ing motion  here  described  and  insisted  upon, 
seems  to  be  absolutely  necessary  for  the  high- 
est shorthand  speed.  The  wretched  "atepety- 
step"  movement,  in  which  the  hand  rests  heav- 
ily upon  the  paper,  except  when,  after  every  few 
words  or  phrases,  it  is  with  effort  lifted  or 
dragged  along,  will  never  permit  rapid  writing. 
No  reasonable  effort  should  be  spared  to  ac- 
quire this  gliding  movement,  as  it  has  been 
termed,  this  free  lateral  movement  of  the  hand. 
But  if,  after  persevering  trial,  it  cannot  be  ac- 
quired, so  that  the  writer  still  finds  himself  un- 
able, as  he  thinks,  to  carry  his  hand  lightly 
across  the  whole  breadth  of  a  foolscap  or  letter 
page,  he  may  compromise  with  his  own  infirmity 
and  evade  rather  than  overcome  the  difficulty 
by  dividing  the  note-taking  page  into  two  or 


106  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

more  columns,  filling,  as  he  writes,  first  one 
column,  and  then  another.  This  method  has  been 
practiced  and  recommended  by  some  writers  of 
high  standing,  one  of  whom  has  said :  "  By  writ- 
ing in  columns,  the  motion  of  the  hand  across 
the  page  is  saved,  as  the  fingers  will  extend  the 
pen  across  the  column  without  moving  the  hand 
in  this  sideward  direction;  and  the  only  motion 
of  the  hand  required  is  down  the  page ;  and  even 
that  may  be  saved  by  sliding  the  paper  up  with 
the  left  hand." 

"A   Light   Touch." 

The  habit  of  writing  with  no  undue  straining 
of  the  muscles,  with  an  easy  grasp  of  the  pen 
or  pencil,  with  but  slight  pressure  upon  the 
paper,  and  with  a  graceful  gliding  of  the  hand 
across  the  page,  constitutes  what  is  called  "a. 
light  touch" — a  most  valuable  acquisition  to 
any  one  who  aspires  to  be  a  rapid  shorthand 
writer.  "A  man"  (says  Mr.  Fred  Pitman)  "who 
possesses  a  fine  touch  will  write  smoothly  with 
little  apparent  effort,  even  at  a  high  rate  of 
speed."  This  lightness  of  touch,  he  adds,  is  "so 
important  a  thing  that  great  speed  can  scarcely 
be  attained  without  it."    More  than  that,  it  en- 


THE   SPEEDY  HAND.  107 

ables  the  writer  to  continue  his  work  for  a  much 
longer  period  and  with  less  fatigue  than  would 
be  possible  with  a  heavier  hand  and  greater 
muscular  strain.  "Where  the  pen  is  tightly 
held,"  says  Thomas  Allen  Reed,  "a  couple  of 
hours  continuous  writing  is  felt  to  be  a  toil,  pro- 
ducing in  the  case  of  rapid  note-taking  a  sense 
of  considerable  fatigue. ' '  On  the  other  hand,  he 
remarks,  "a  man  who  holds  his  pen  lightly  and 
is  perfectly  familiar  with  his  shorthand,  will 
write  for  half  a  day  or  more  without  any  labor- 
ious exertion  or  sense  of  weariness.  I  have  my- 
self taken  shorthand  notes  for  ten  hours  con- 
tinuously, with  an  interval  of  only  a  few  min- 
utes, filling  more  than  two  hundred  closely  writ- 
ten pages,  each  containing  about  five  folios ;  and 
I  could  have  gone  on  without  much  difficulty  for 
an  hour  or  two  longer.  I  take  no  credit  to  my- 
self for  this.  Having  naturally  a  light  touch,  I 
have  simply  tried  to  cultivate  it,  as  many  others 
have  done  with  the  same  result."* 

A  reporter  of  my  acquaintance  who  has  had 
great  experience  in  taking  notes  for  many  hours 
daily  during  many  successive  days,  has  told  me 

*This  is  more  applicable  to  a  system  requiring  shading 
than  to  one  in  which  all  the  writing  is  light.  The  absence 
of  shading  in  writing  gives  a  sense  of  freedom  which  is 
productive  of  a  light  touch. — The  PubUshera. 


108  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

that,  being  threatened  with  pen  paralysis,  and 
compelled  to  resort  to  every  expedient  to  econ- 
omize the  muscular  effort  of  writing,  he  de- 
rived the  greatest  possible  aid  from  cultivating 
extreme  lightness  of  touch.  This,  he  said,  had 
proved  in  his  own  case  an  unmistakable  aid  to 
rapidity,  a  protection  against  fatigue,  and  a 
safeguard  against  the  greatest  peril  of  the  hard- 
working stenographer — penman's  palsy. 

The  cultivation  of  a  light  touch  should  be  one 
main  purpose  of  the  shorthand  writer  from  the 
very  beginning  of  his  practice.  Unless  cultivated 
in  the  beginning,  its  acquirement  may  later  be 
very  difficult,  if  not  impossible ;  for  it  has  been 
aptly  remarked,  "No  habits  are  retained  with 
more  permanence  than  those  pertaining  to  the 
operation  of  the  muscles." 

In  aiming  to  acquire  a  light  pressure  of  the 
pen,  it  may  be  well  for  the  student  to  bear  in 
mind  the  words  of  Mr.  Reed:  "The  only  pressure 
on  the  pencil  or  the  penholder  which  is  needed 
i.s  just  enough  to  give  the  fingers  a  perfect  com- 
mand over  it,  so  that  the  forms  may  be  traced 
firmlj'  and  clearly,  but  not  stiffly.  A  happy  and 
judicious  combination  of  firmness  and  lightness 
is  the  goal  at  which  every  young  shorthand 
writer  should  direct  his  efforts." 


THE   SPEEDY  HAND.  109 

An  eminent  American  reporter,  who  inclines 
to  the  use  of  the  pencil  in  preference  to  the  pen, 
has  said  in  one  of  his  publications :  "  If  you  have 
a  heavy  hand  use  a  pencil" — which  seems  to  me 
equivalent  to  saying:  "If  you  have  any  faulty 
method  of  writing,  humor  it,  and  don't  seek  to 
overcome  it."  I  would  rather  say  to  the  stu- 
dent, "If  you  have  a  heavy  hand,  strive  to  get 
rid  of  it  by  using  an  instrument  which  requires 
you  to  write  lightly ;  get  the  softest  pen  you  can 
find,  that  it  may  compel  you  to  hold  your  natur- 
ally heavy  hand  in  check."  For  the  shorthand 
writer  who  wants  a  light  touch — that  is,  who 
wants  to  write  with  no  needless  pressure — there 
can  scarcely  be  such  a  thing  as  a  pen  which  is 
too  soft. 

In  aiming  to  acquire  that  much-to-be-desired 
boon,  "a  light  touch,"  the  shorthand  student 
should  constantly  aim  to  throw  as  little  weight 
as  possible  upon  the  right  arm.  To  lean  for- 
ward, and,  as  it  were,  crouch  over  one's  note- 
book, is  not  only  an  ungainly  habit,  but  one 
which,  by  throwing  extra  weight  upon  the  writ- 
ing arm,  interferes  with  ease  and  speed. 

A  sadly  vicious  habit,  too  often  indulged, 
even  in  some  schools  of  penmanship  and  short- 


110  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

hand  (as  shown  in  the  photographs  of  their  well- 
filled  class  rooms),  is  to  place  the  right  side  of 
the  body  toward  the  desk  and  write  with  the 
weight  of  the  body  thrown  upon  the  right  arm. 
On  this  point,  I  am  glad  to  quote  with  hearty 
concurrence  the  language  of  that  well-known 
"speed  writer,"  Isaac  S.  Dement:  "Now  we 
have  got  the  weight  of  the  movement  off  the  arm, 
let  us  take  the  weight  of  the  body  off  from  it 
and  throw  it  on  the  left  arm.  Then  it  is  per- 
fectly free.  What  have  you  got?  Your  hand 
is  in  perfect  condition  to  do  exactly  what  you 
wish  it  to  do.  Of  course,  if  there  is  no  cramp- 
ing, the  rapidity  is  assured." 


"THE   LITTLE  FOXES  THAT 
SPOIL  THE  VINES." 


One  of  the  striking  characteristics  of  the 
speedy  hand  is  that  it  loses  no  time  in  waste 
motions.  An  ingenious  writer  has  estimated 
that  the  time  necessarily  lost  during  pen-lifts 
by  the  most  experienced  and  expert  stenogra- 
pher under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  is 
equal  to  forty  per  cent  of  the  whole  time  occu- 
pied in  the  writing.  In  other  words,  there  is 
sixty  per  cent  of  written  product  to  one  hundred 
per  cent  of  time  consumed.  This  estimate  seems 
to  me  much  exaggerated;  but  it  is  doubtless 
true  that  the  ordinary  writer,  with  whom  of 
course  the  non-productive  consumption  of  time  is 
greater  than  with  the  expert,  loses  while  his  pen 
does  not  touch  the  paper — while  he  is  passing 
from  word  to  word,  from  phrase  to  phrase, 
from  line  to  line,  from  page  to  page — ^while, 
strictly  speaking,  no  writing  is  being  done — 
more  time  than  he  occupies  in  the  shaping  of 
the  shorthand  characters. 
Ill 


112  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

A  certain  amount  of  loss  during  the  pen-lifts 
is  of  course  inevitable.  But  how  can  this  loss 
be  kept  down  to  the  lowest  possible  point? 
Doubtless  with  many  young  writers  a  large  part 
of  the  loss  occuring  during  pen-lifts  proceeds 
from  mental  hesitation — indecision  as  to  how 
the  successive  shorthand  outlines  should  be 
written.  The  cause  and  cure  of  this  infirmity 
will  be  the  subject  of  a  later  chapter.  But  when 
mental  hesitation  has  largely  passed  away,  there 
often  remain  many  time-wasting  habits  which 
do  their  fell  work,  unconsciously  to  the  writer, 
while  his  pen  is  lifted — habits  many  of  which, 
taken  singly,  would  scarcely  be  worthy  of  notice 
except  in  connection  with  an  art  in  which  liter- 
ally every  moment  is  precious.  These  time-wast- 
ing habits,  while  the  writer  is  unaware  of  their 
existence,  rob  him  of  the  speed  he  might  attain. 
They  are  "the  little  foxes  that  spoil  the  vines." 

How    Good    Phrasing    Helps. 

"When  we  seek  to  minimize  the  losses  by  or 
during  the  pen-lifts,  an  obvious  suggestion  is, 
reduce  the  number  of  necessary  pen-lifts  by 
good  phrasing.  By  good  phrasing,  I  mean,  of 
course,  phrasing  which  does  not,  while  pretend- 


"LITTLE  FOXES  THAT  SPOIL.  THE  VINES."  113 

ing  to  save  time,  sacrifice  it  by  inconvenient  or 
awkward  junctions,  or  by  an  habitual  ponder- 
ing upon  the  phrasability  of  all  the  various  ver- 
bal combinations  which  present  themselves  in 
following  a  reader  or  a  speaker.  But  when  good 
phrasing  has  dispensed  with  every  unnecessary 
pen-lift,  the  pen  must  still  be  lifted  again  and 
again  during  the  course  of  every  line;  and  if  at 
every  pen-lift  time  is  needlessly  lost,  the  possi- 
bility of  high  speed  is  defeated,  because  the  "lit- 
tle foxes"  are  stealthily  doing  their  work. 

"Quick  Transitions." 

Time  may  be  lost  during  the  pen-lifts,  not  only 
by  unnecessary  motions,  but  by  performing  nec- 
essary motions  in  a  sluggish  way.  The  move- 
ments of  the  hand  in  passing  from  word  to 
word,  from  line  to  line,  from  page  to  page,  may 
be  performed  in  the  right  way,  but  not  with 
sufficient  alertness.  "Quick  transitions"  should 
be  the  watchword  of  every  writer  who  aims  at 
speed.  While  the  pen  is  lifted,  let  all  sluggish- 
ness and  dawdling  be  avoided.  Let  the  pen, 
when  necessarily  lifted,  get  back  to  its  work  with 
no  waste  motion  or  needless  delay.  Let  the  hand 
be  carried  from  the  end  of  one  line  to  the  be- 


114     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

ginning  of  another  with  lightning-like  celerity. 
Let  the  turning  of  the  leaf  be  always  properly 
prepared  for,  and  then  at  the  right  moment, 
be  done  "with  a  whiz."  Let  all  the  movements 
of  fingers,  hand  and  arm,  while  the  pen  does  not 
touch  the  paper,  be  hurried  to  the  last  extreme. 
If  these  movements,  in  which  no  amount  of 
hurry  can  do  harm,  be  performed  ' '  with  a  rush, " 
time  is  gained  for  carefulness  where  it  is  often 
needed — while  the  pen  is  actually  making  its 
record.  Even  the  beginner  (too  often  indulged 
in  sluggish  movements  and  methods)  should 
habituate  himself  as  soon  as  possible  to  "quick 
transitions." 

The  Pen=Lift  Must  Not  Be  a  Hand-Lift. 

But  during  the  pen-lifts  the  writer's  motions 
are  too  often  not  merely  sluggish,  but  superflu- 
ous. Time  is  lost  in  doing  what  need  not  be 
done  and  ought  not  to  be  done.  Sometimes,  for 
instance,  the  pen-lift  which  (except  at  the  end 
of  a  line)  should  be  accomplished  by  a  mere 
extension  or  lifting  of  the  writing-fingers,  be- 
comes a  hand-lift.  In  such  cases  the  little  fin- 
ger, on  which  the  hand  should  glide  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  the  line  without  leaving 


"LITTLE  FOXES  THAT  SPOIL  THE  VINES."  115 

the  paper,  is  lifted  at  the  end  of  almost  every 
word  or  phrase,  and  carried  forward,  to  be  re- 
stationed  a  little  farther  on.  "When  this  hap- 
pens, not  only  is  there  a  loss  by  the  needless 
lifting  of  the  hand,  as  well  as  by  its  return 
and  readjustment,  but  the  hand,  especially  when 
hurried,  can  scarcely  return  to  the  paper,  after 
one  of  these  lifts,  without  a  sort  of  jar,  necessi- 
tating a  little  pause  until  the  pen  steadies  it- 
self; or,  if  this  steadying  pause  be  not  made, 
the  character  of  the  writing  suffers.  Sitting 
beside  a  writer  who  habitually  substituted  hand- 
lifts  for  pen-lifts,  I  have  felt  the  jarring  of 
the  desk  two  or  three  times  in  the  course  of  every 
line,  as  his  hand  heavily  returned  to  the  paper. 
This  habit  of  hand-lifting  is  no  doubt  in  many 
cases  a  legacy  of  longhand-teaching.  The  writer 
unconsciously  clings  to  the  notion,  already  re- 
ferred to,  that  the  twirling  of  the  pen  "in  the 
air"  before  it  touches  the  paper — "taking  a 
good  aim,"  as  the  writing  master  calls  it — aids 
in  the  shaping  of  the  characters. 

Many  writers  who  avoid  the  error  of  making 
a  hand-lift  instead  of  a  pen-lift,  lose  time  by 
lifting  the  pen  too  high.  Let  it  be  remembered 
that  a  mere  breaking  of  the  contact  between 


116  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

pen  and  paper  is  all  that  is  necessary,  and 
"whatsoever  is  more  than  this  cometh  of  evil." 
With  some  of  the  most  rapid  writers  I  know, 
the  pen,  except  at  the  end  of  a  line,  can  scarcely 
be  seen  to  leave  the  paper,  the  lifting  being 
often  so  slight  as  to  show  upon  close  examina- 
tion a  faint  track  left  by  the  pen  or  pencil  upon 
the  paper  in  passing  from  word  to  word  or  from 
phrase  to  phrase.  This  I  have  noticed  particu- 
larly in  the  writing  of  those  masterly  stenog- 
raphers, Mr.  Andrew  Devine  and  Mr.  Fred  Ir- 
land. 

Wasteful  Spacing. 

Another  case  of  lost  motion  is  when  the  hand, 
while  passing  from  word  to  word,  travels  far- 
ther than  it  needs  to  do,  and  makes  the  inter- 
vening spaces  too  large.  Many  persons  adopt 
so  loose  a  style  of  writing  as  to  get  only  five  or 
six  words  on  a  line  which  might  easily  contain 
three  or  four  times  as  many.  In  this  "scatter- 
ing" style  of  shorthand,  there  is  a  loss  both 
direct  and  indirect.  The  direct  loss,  occasioned 
by  the  distance  which  tho  hand  needlessly  tra- 
verses between  the  words  or  phrases,  entails  an 
indirect  loss  by  compelling  the  hand  to  pass 


"LITTLE  FOXES  THAT  SPOIL  THE  VINES."  117 

oftener  from  line  to  line  than  a  compact  style 
of  writing  would  require.  From  the  mere  sub- 
stitution of  a  compact  for  a  scattering  style,  I 
have  seen  in  many  students  an  almost  immediate 
gain  of  speed.  On  this  subject  I  take  pleasure 
in  quoting  the  testimony  of  a  well-known  and 
long-experienced  teacher,  Mr.  G.  S.  Walworth: 
''I  frequently  tell  my  students  to  keep  the  pen 
close  to  the  paper,  to  write  rather  small  out- 
lines, and  to  leave  little  space  between  the  words 
and  phrases.  Students  in  whom  faulty  habits 
in  these  respects  are  very  pronounced,  usually 
make  a  great  jump  in  speed  as  soon  as  they  rid 
themselves  of  them." 

Pencil  Moistening. 

What  shall  I  say  of  the  inexcusable  habit 
(which  I  have  seen  practiced  by  both  men  and 
women)  of  putting  the  pencil  to  the  mouth  as 
often  as  it  may  seem  to  be  necessary,  to  supply 
to  the  lead  the  moisture  required  for  a  clear 
stroke?  This  habit  should  not  be  tolerated  for 
an  hour.  A  pencil  that  constantly  needs  to  be 
moistened  is  not  adapted  to  shorthand  work. 

Many  of  the  wrong  habits  pointed  out  in  the 
last  few  pages  are  practiced  unconsciously,  and 


118     THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED, 

can  scarcely  be  corrected  except  through  the 
vigilance  of  some  person  other  than  the  writer 
himself.  Let  the  student  who  suspects  himself 
of  any  of  these  habits  invite  the  keen  watching 
of  his  teacher  or  dictator.  He  should  also  do 
what  he  can  to  watch  himself,  when  engaged  in 
writing  memorized  matter  which  requires  only 
a  limited  share  of  his  attention. 

Expeditious  Leaf  Turning. 

To  avoid  one  of  the  most  serious  losses  of 
the  young  writer,  it  is  important  that  he  should, 
from  the  beginning  of  his  practice,  aim  to  turn 
the  leaves  of  his  notebook  readily  and  quickly, 
and  to  make  the  doing  of  it  so  habitual  as  to 
require  but  little  attention.  I  have  seen  some 
otherwise  accomplished  writers,  in  turning  a 
page,  interrupt  the  writing  while  taking  hold  of 
the  lower  corner  of  the  page  with  the  right 
hand.  Thomas  Allen  Reed  gives  a  method  of 
leaf-turning  which  is  practiced  by  many  English 
and  American  reporters: 

''While  writing  on  the  upper  half  of  the  leaf 
introduce  the  second  finger  of  the  left  hand  be- 
tween it  and  the  next  leaf,  keeping  the  leaf  on 
which  you  are  writing  steady  by  the  first  finger 


"LITTLE  FOXES  THAT  SPOIL  THE  VINES."  119 

and  thiimb.  While  writing  on  the  lower  part  of 
the  page,  shift  the  leaf  by  degrees  till  it  is  about 
half  way  up  the  book;  when  it  is  convenient, 
lift  up  the  thumb,  and  the  leaf  will  turn  over 
almost  by  itself.  *  *  *  The  finger  should 
be  introduced  at  the  first  pause  the  speaker 
makes,  or  at  any  other  convenient  opportunity 
that  presents  itself." 

Another  excellent  method  is,  while  writing  on 
the  upper  half  of  the  page,  to  take  the  lower 
left-hand  comer  between  the  thumb  and  the  fore- 
finger of  the  left  hand,  and  then  push  the  page 
upward,  a  little  at  a  time,  selecting  for  this 
purpose  those  intervals  when  the  speaker  pauses 
or  while  the  pen  is  shifting  from  line  to  line. 
The  effect  of  thus  pushing  the  page  upward 
is  to  curl  it,  thus  giving  an  opening  for  the 
introduction  of  the  finger.  This  curling  of  the 
page  will  not  interfere  with  the  writing,  if  one 
or  two  fingers  of  the  left  hand  are  used  to  press 
down  the  part  of  the  page  on  which  the  writ- 
ing is  being  done,  thus  keeping  it  flat  and 
firm.  This  pushing  of  the  page  upward  is  not 
only  a  preparation  for  turning  the  leaf,  but  it 
makes  writing  on  the  lower  part  of  the  page 
much    more     convenient,     as    the     supporting 


120  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

fingers  of  the  right  hand  are  not  thrown  en- 
tirely off  the  book. 

Any  writer  who,  after  faithful  practice,  finds 
difficulty  in  acquiring  either  of  these  methods  of 
turning  the  leaves,  may  profit  by  the  suggestion 
of  Miss  Hattie  A.  Shinn,  a  most  accomplished 
stenographer,  who  (writing  in  the  "Exponent" 
for  March,  1885),  declares  that  it  "requires 
nothing  short  of  jugglery  to  turn  the  page  after 
writing  to  the  bottom  of  it,  so  quickly  that 
nothing  is  lost  by  the  time  the  top  of  the  next 
page  is  reached."  She  therefore  says  to  young 
writers,  "Do  not  attempt  to  do  fast  writing  in 
books  folded  at  the  end."  Instead  of  these,  she 
recommends  side-folding  books,  in  the  use  of 
which  "the  left  hand,  resting  upon  the  page  on 
which  you  write  (and  taking  hold  of  the  upper 
right  hand  corner) ,  can  readily  have  the  page  half 
turned  by  the  time  the  bottom  of  it  is  reached. 
There  is  then  nothing  more  to  be  done  than  to 
move  the  writing  hand  to  the  top  of  the  next 
page,  without  the  loss  of  a  single  movement." 

As  the  pages  of  a  new  note-book  have  a  ten- 
dency to  adhere  to  one  another,  thus  increasing 
the  difficulty  of  turning  the  leaves,  the  writer 
will  find  it  an  advantage  to  go  through  the  note- 


"LITTLE  FOXES  THAT  SPOIL  THE  VINES."  121 

book  page  by  page  before  using  it,  and  carefully 
separate  the  leaves. 

The  Speedy  Hand  Is  Not  Showy. 

In  asking  the  student  to  avoid  all  waste  mo- 
tions and  acquire  in  its  genuine  form  a  speedy 
hand,  I  am  asking  him  to  forego  the  applause 
of  those  (and  they  are  many)  who  think  that 
the  hand  which  appears  to  be  dashing  in  wild 
haste  across  the  paper,  or  which  in  other  ways 
makes  a  great  show  of  motion,  is  writing  fast. 
The  person  who,  in  writing,  allows  his  fingers 
their  proper  play,  who  keeps  his  pen,  even  when 
lifted,  close  to  the  paper,  who  makes  small 
spaces  between  words  and  phrases,  who  avoids 
large  and  sprawling  characters,  who  turns  the 
leaves  of  his  note-book  deftly  but  quietly,  will 
not  make  much  show  of  motion  even  in  the  most 
rapid  work,  and  will  thus  miss  the  plaudits 
which  many  unthinking  lookers-on  are  ready  to 
give  to  the  "pen-slinger"  who,  with  great  parade 
and  pretense  of  fast  writing,  is,  in  fact,  losing 
time  by  wasted  motions  which  do  not  help  speed, 
but  hinder  it.  A  gentleman  thoroughly  versed 
in  the  reporting  profession  (Mr.  Henry  C.  Dem- 
ming),   has  shrewdly  observed:     "Let  a  per^ 


122  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

son  go  into  church  during  service,  throw  him- 
self around  wildly,  slash  and  dash  terrifically, 
and  turn  his  leaves  over  with  a  snap ;  and  nearly 
everybody  within  eye  and  earshot  will  inwardly 
say,  'What  an  excellent  reporter  he  must  be!' 
All  this  and  more,  while  the  manipulator  of 
pen  or  pencil  is  not  getting  one-third  of  the  dis- 
course." 

Such  writers  no  doubt  have  the  reward  which 
they  seek.  But  the  stenographer  who  has  im- 
bibed the  prime  principle  of  rapid  writing,  that 
to  economize  movement  and  economize  space  is 
to  economize  time,  and  who  has  acquired  that 
substantial  blessing,  the  really  speedy  hand,  the 
hand  that  makes  no  false  show  of  rapidity,  but 
simply  keeps  right  on  and  "gets  there,"  may 
•well  content  himself  with  the  celerity  and  ac- 
curacy of  his  note-taking,  without  envying  the 
false  glory  of  charlatans  and  pretenders. 


PEN  OR  PENCIL? 


The  question  whether  the  pen  or  the  pencil 
should  be  preferred  for  stenographic  writing, 
must  naturally  be  of  great  interest  to  every 
shorthand  student.  This  question  has  been 
among  reporters  a  subject  of  much  dispute.  I 
believe  that,  as  the  result  of  the  discussion,  and 
more  especially  as  the  result  of  continued  ex- 
perience with  the  two  instruments,  a  large  ma- 
jority of  the  reporters  of  the  country  consider 
the  advantages  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  pen; 
and  many  who  from  force  of  early  habit  are 
obliged  to  continue  the  use  of  the  pencil,  do  so 
regretfully,  and  look  with  envy  upon  the  users 
of  the  pen. 

Twelve  Reasons  in  Favor  of  the  Pen. 

Twelve  reasons  may  be  stated,  which,  in  my 

opinion,  should  induce  every  young  writer  to 

educate  himself  from  the  very  beginning  of  his 

practice  to  do  his  stenographic  writing  with  the 

pen,  whenever  circumstances  will  allow  him  to 

do  so : 

123 


124   THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

1.  The  pen  requires  less  muscular  exertion  for 
its  management.  Hence  the  pen-writer  works 
for  long  periods  with  less  fatigue  than  the  pencil- 
writer.  Stating  the  result  of  years  of  experi- 
ence, and  concurring  with  the  general  opinion 
on  the  subject,  Mr.  Geo.  R.  Bishop,  the  distin- 
guished author  of  "Exact  Phonography,"  has 
said  that  he  ' '  can  write  four  hours  with  the  pen 
with  less  fatigue  than  one  hour  with  the  pencil." 
The  management  of  the  pencil  is  a  heavy  tax 
upon  the  muscles  and  the  nerves.  This  muscu- 
lar and  nervous  strain,  apart  from  the  immedi- 
ate fatigue,  tends  to  bring  on  "writer's  cramp." 
Mr.  James  E.  Munson  some  time  ago  suggested 
that  pen-paralysis,  so-called,  is  generally  pencil- 
paralysis,  resulting  from  muscular  overstrain- 
ing which  the  pencil  entails.  An  article  in  the 
' '  Shorthand  Review ' '  for  August,  1891,  exhibits 
vividly  the  extent  of  this  overstraining.  "We 
have,"  says  this  writer,  "frequently  examined 
the  notes  of  recently-graduated  stenographers, 
and  find  that  the  hand-pressure  employed  in 
writing  leads  to  some  very  astonishing  results. 
In  many  eases  the  pencil  makes  an  impression 
through  two  or  three  pages  of  the  note-book.  It 
is    needless    to    sav    that    under    such    circum- 


PEN  OR  PENCIL?  125 

stances  fast  writing  is  impossible.  Such  an 
unnecessary  expenditure  of  force  cannot  be  em- 
ployed with  the  pen." 

The  testimony  of  that  long-experienced  and 
widely-known  reporter,  Mr.  A.  P.  Little,  of 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  is  well  worthy  of  recital  here. 
Addressing  his  professional  brethren  of  the 
New  York  State  Stenographers'  Association, 
Mr.  Little  says:  "I  do  not  believe  an  instance 
can  be  cited  where  writer's  cramp  has  been 
caused  by  the  use  of  a  flexible-point  pen  in 
writing  shorthand.  I  believe  that  it  is  almost 
entirely  produced  by  the  use  of  a  pencil,  which, 
in  my  opinion,  no  first-class  stenographer  ought 
to  use  in  court  or  elsewhere;  or  else  it  is  caused 
by  using  a  very  stiff  pen.  The  use  of  the  pencil 
requires  the  use  of  all  the  muscles  to  so  much 
greater  extent  than  the  use  of  a  flexible  pen  that 
they  are  over-exerted  and  thus  become  over  fa- 
tigued ;  and  in  consequence  of  this  over-exertion, 
one  contracts  writer's  cramp.  I  do  not  take 
the  ground  that  there  are  not  first-class  stenog- 
raphers who  put  themselves  to  the  extra  trouble 
of  using  the  pencil,  or  that  there  are  not  some 
stenographers  that  use  a  very  stiff  pen  and  'get 
there '  just  as  satisfactorily  as  anybody  else.    It  is 


126  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

very  difficult  for  one  unaccustomed  to  a  stiff  pen 
or  pencil  to  use  a  very  flexible  pen.  They  are 
often  entirely  unable  at  first  to  control  a  flexible 
pen,  that  is,  to  make  it  go  where  they  want  it 
to  go,  and  to  make  it  do  what  they  want  it  to  do ; 
but  if  they  persevere,  they  can  subsequently 
write  more  rapidly  and  easily  than  with  a  stiff 
pen.  To  sum  up  what  I  have  endeavored  to  say, 
it  has  been,  and  still  is,  my  belief  that,  if 
stenographers  generally  would  discard  the  use  of 
the  pencil  or  stiff  pen  and  adopt  a  medium  coarse- 
pointed,  flexible  pen,  they  would  never  have 
writer's  cramp." 

2.  The  pen  permits  and  promotes  a  lightness 
of  touch  which,  with  the  pencil,  is  out  of  the 
question ;  and  this  lightness  of  touch  conduces 
largely  to  speed.  The  pen  does  not  allow  that 
undue  pressure  which  the  pencil  invites,  if  it 
does  not  cause.  This  undue  pressure  with  which 
many  persons  are  disposed  to  write  is  highly 
incompatible  with  rapid  note-taking. 

3.  The  pen,  with  its  yielding  nib,  is  far  better 
adapted  than  the  pencil  to  express  readily  and 
clearly  the  distinctions  between  light  strokes  and 
heavy.  The  writing  which  best  preserves  these 
distinctions    is,    other    things   being    equal,    the 


PEN  OR  PENCIL?  127 

most  legible.  One  of  the  most  conspicuous  advo- 
cates of  the  pencil,  that  accomplished  reporter, 
Mr.  Greo.  H.  Thornton,  the  author  of  ''The 
Modern  Stenographer,"  has,  by  inventing  and 
publishing  a  ' '  light  line ' '  system  of  stenography, 
admitted  in  the  most  emphatic  manner  the  un- 
suitability  of  his  favorite  instrument,  the  pencil, 
to  make  those  distinctions  between  light  strokes 
and  heavy  which  are  a  fundamental  feature  of 
Pitmanic  phonography.  Writers  who  have  not 
adopted  any  ' '  light  line ' '  system  of  phonography 
must  distinguish  their  heavy  strokes  from  their 
light  ones,  if  they  wish  the  writing  to  be  legible ; 
and  for  this  purpose  they  need  an  instrument 
like  the  pen,  suited  by  its  peculiar  construction 
to  make  these  necesary  distinctions. 

4.  Pen-notes  are  better  adapted  for  preserva* 
tion  than  pencil  notes,  which  even  ordinary 
handling  tends  to  blur.  Anything  that  is  to  be 
filed  away  as  a  record  should  not  be  written 
with  a  pencil.  Mr.  Thornton,  in  advocating  some 
years  ago  the  use  of  the  pencil,  made  an  impor- 
tant concession  in  favor  of  the  superiority  of 
pen-notes  for  record  purposes.  ''Notes  taken 
with  a  pencil,"  he  said,  "are  as  easily  tran- 
scribed in  after  years  as  those  written  with  a 


128  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

pen,  if  they  are  not  handled."    (Proceedings  of 
N.  Y.  State  Stenographers'  Association,  1882.) 

5.  It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  pen-notes  are 
more  legible,  especially  when  they  must  be  read 
at  night,  than  pencil  notes.  The  strain  of  read- 
ing the  latter  by  artificial  light  (and  much  of 
the  professional  reporter's  work  must  be  done 
at  night)  is  terribly  trying  to  the  best  of  eyes. 
The  young  stenographer,  looking  forward  to 
coming  years,  should  preserve  his  sight  careful- 
ly as  a  part  of  his  business  equipment,  and 
should  realize  that  he  cannot  afford  to  abuse  the 
only  pair  of  eyes  he  will  ever  have. 

6.  Neater  notes  can  be  made  with  the  pen 
than  with  the  pencil,  the  latter  tending  to  gen- 
crate  a  habit  of  scrawling.  The  scrawling  writer 
is  nearly  always  a  pencil  writer.  Some  of  the 
neatest  writers  in  our  profession  use  the  pen 
constantly. 

7.  Pencil  notes,  in  consequence  of  their  intrin- 
sic illegibility,  can  seldom  be  transcribed  (as 
pen-notes  constantly  are)  by  other  persons  than 
the  writer.  Such  transcription  by  assistants  is 
an  immense  advantage  to  many  a  hard-working 
reporter. 

8.  The  old  objection,  based  on  loss  of  time  hy 


PEN  OR  PENCIL?  129 

pen-dipping,  and  on  the  inconvenience  of  carry- 
ing round  an  ink-stand — an  objection  the  force 
of  which  was  always  overrated — has  of  course 
been  made  obsolete  by  the  introduction  of  the 
fountain  pen. 

9.  The  general  opinion  of  almost  every  report- 
er whose  early  habits  have  not  prevented  him 
from  giving  the  pen  a  fair  trial,  is  decidedly  in 
its  favor.  All  the  official  reporting  of  the 
United  States  Senate  for  forty  years  has  been 
done  with  the  pen.  Of  the  five  official  reporters 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  four  take  notes 
with  pen,  two  having  discarded  the  pencil  with- 
in a  year  or  two  past.  If  the  pen  can  be  used 
successfully  in  the  perambulating  reporting  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  there  ought  to  be 
no  difficulty  in  using  it  anywhere.  The  "Short- 
hand Review"  for  August,  1891,  states  that  "out 
of  65  of  the  best  known  shorthand  writers  in  the 
country  who  were  interviewed  regarding  their 
pen  or  pencil  preference,  40  stated  that  they 
used  the  pen,  14  the  pencil,  and  11  both." 

10.  When,  on  rare  occasions,  the  reporter's 
environment  absolutely  requires  the  use  of  pen- 
cil, the  habitual  user  of  the  pen  finds  little  diffi- 
culty in  adapting  himself  to  the  emergency.  It 


130  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

may  be  remarked  inciden'tally  that  a  reporter, 
though  habitually  a  user  of  the  pen,  should 
never  be  without  one  or  two  good  well-sharp- 
ened pencils  in  his  pocket,  for  use  in  case  of 
accident  or  emergency. 

11.  But  the  pen,  if  its  advantages  are  to  be 
enjoyed,  must  be  held  in  the  right  way,  and  its 
proper  management  must  have  been  acquired  by 
sufficient  practice.  A  person  who  has  written 
shorthand  with  a  pencil  for  months  or  years 
must  not  decide  against  the  pen  upon  a  trial  of 
five  or  ten  minutes.  Those  who  say  they  "can't 
write  shorthand  with  a  pen"  have  never  given 
the  pen  a  fair  trial.  In  most  cases  they  have 
never  learned  to  hold  the  pen  in  the  peculiar 
position  which  shorthand  writing  requires — a 
very  different  position  from  that  which  is  taught 
in  connection  with  longhand,  and  which  is 
adapted  only  to  strokes  written  in  a  single  di- 
rection. It  is  important  that  the  learner  of  short- 
hand should  use  a  pen  from  the  start.  When 
pencil-writing  has  become  habitual,  a  change  to 
the  pen  always  requires  considerable  patience 
and  self-conquest.  Many  a  pencil  writer  is  un- 
willing or  unable  to  give  the  necessary  amount 
of  practice  to  overcome  the  habit  he  has  formed. 


PEN  OR  PENCIL?  131 

The  longer  the  use  of  the  pen  is  postponed,  the 
harder  it  will  be  to  make  the  change. 

"I  Generally  Break  My  Pencil  Point." 

12.  But  this  question  must  not  be  disposed 
of  without  noticing  one  consideration  of  over- 
whelming force — the  liability  of  the  pencil  point 
to  break  treacherously  at  a  most  critical  mo- 
ment. This  liability  is  conceded  by  two  of 
the  most  conspicuous  advocates  of  the  pencil, 
Mr.  Dement  and  Mr.  Thornton.  Mr.  Dement, 
while  in  attendance  at  one  of  the  annual  meet- 
ings of  the  New  York  State  Stenographers'  As- 
sociation, to  take  part  in  the  celebrated  "speed 
contest,"  made  this  statement:  "We  reporters 
of  the  West  use  the  pencil  and  use  the  light 
line ;  and  when  I  use  a  heavy  line,  it  is  generally 
w^rong,  except  in  the  word  'defendant,'  when  I 
generally  break  my  pencil  point."*  (Proceed- 
ings of  1887,  page  138.)  How  candidly  Mr.  De- 
ment concedes  the  treacherousness  of  his  favorite 
writing  tool!  At  the  same  meeting,  Mr.  Thorn- 
ton, referring  to  the  notes  taken  in  the  "speed 


*The  testimony  of  this  eminent  Pitmanic  writer  and  author 
as  to  the  value  of  light  lines  will  be  gratifying  to  writers 
who  do  not  use  shading.  In  Pitmanic  shorthand  the  word 
"defendant,"  to  which  Mr.  Dement  alludes,  is  represented 
by  a  vertical  shaded  stroke.^The  Publishers. 


132  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

contest,"  said  that  "Mr.  Dement  would  be  very 
glad  to  now  read  over  the  notes  which  he  had 
taken  of  the  matter  dictated  to  him,  to  show 
that  he  had  taken  it  in  good  faith,  and  that  he 
could  read  it  all,  with  the  exception  of  one  or 
two  places  where  his  pencil  broke."  (Page  94.) 
Many  reporters  who  may  envy  Mr.  Dement 's 
speed  as  a  shorthand  writer,  will  yet  prefer  to 
do  their  work  with  a  tool  which  in  an  emergen- 
cy will  not  thus  betray  them.  Who  can  say 
how  much  better  a  record  even  Mr.  Dement 
might  have  made  in  that  contest  if  he  had  been 
armed  with  a  better  weapon? 

What  Pen  to  Use? 

If,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  young  writer,  my 
case  has  been  made  out  in  favor  of  the  pen,  the 
question  naturally  arises,  What  kind  of  a  pen 
should  be  used?  This  must  be  largely  a  matter 
of  individual  preference.  A  gold  pen,  which 
many  writers  prefer,  others  cannot  become  ac- 
customed to,  especially  when  in  a  ''fountain" 
holder.  Of  steel  pens,  Gillott's  303,  Spencerian 
No.  1,  the  Moheta  pen,  the  Falcon  pen,  and  Per- 
ry's  three  pointed  pen  (with  the  latter  almost  all 
the  note-taking  in  the  United  States  Senate  was 


PEN  OR  PENCIL?  133 

done  for  a  number  of  years)  have  their  respec- 
tive champions.  In  this  matter  every  writer 
must  make  experiments  for  himself.  If  he  de- 
sires to  cultivate  a  ' '  light  touch, ' '  a  fine-pointed 
and  very  flexible  pen  will  be  chosen.  He  should 
also  discover  by  his  own  experiments  the  pa- 
per and  the  ink  which  suit  him.  On  this  point 
no  special  suggestion  is  deemed  necessary. 

A  Beginner  Needs  the  Best  Materials. 

In  closing  this  topic,  it  should  be  remarked 
that  there  can  be  no  greater  error  than  to  as- 
sume in  the  matter  of  materials  that  "anything 
is  good  enough  for  a  beginner."  On  the  con- 
trary, a  beginner  is  entitled  to  the  best ;  for  he  is 
more  subject  than  are  experienced  writers  to  the 
discouraging  influence  of  little  difficulties  and 
annoyances.  Besides,  he  should  early  become 
accustomed  to  such  materials  as  he  is  finally 
to  use,  and  should  early  learn  to  exercise  his 
judgment  in  selecting  them. 


CAUSES  OF  HESITATION 


"Frequent  hesitation  as  to  the  proper  forms  of  words  takes 
away  very  much  from  the  facility  of  writing." — Andrkw  J. 
Ghaham. 

"Speed  depends  chiefly  upon  the  ability  of  the  writer  to 
make  the  various  outlines  of  words  without  hesitation." 
— James  E.  Munson. 

To  Write  Quickly,  Think  Quickly. 

Hesitation  is  the  arch  enemy  of  shorthand 
speed.  Thousands  of  young  stenographers,  who 
are  longing  for  a  "speedy  hand,"  mistake  the 
eause  of  their  trouble.  Their  failure  to  attain 
reasonable  rapidity  is  because  the  mind,  not  the 
hand,  works  too  slowly.  lie  who  would  learn  to 
write  quickly  must  learn  to  think  quickly. 
Would-be  shorthand  writers,  who  are  wondering 
why  tliey  make  no  progress,  are,  in  many  cases, 
attempting  to  carry  in  their  heads  more  short- 
hand than  they  can  get  promptly  from  their 
heads  into  their  fingers.  Facility  of  hand,  nat- 
ural or  acquired,  avails  nothing,  unless  the  mind, 
by  prompt  conceptions,  allows  the  hand  a  fair 
chance  to  do  its  work.  As  the  words  fall  upon 
the  stenographer's  ear,  there  should  be  no  ap- 
preciable  pause   between  hearing  and   writing. 

134 


CAUSES  OF  HESITATION.  135 

Shorthand  thinking  reaches  perfection  when  it 
is  so  promptly  done  as  to  seem  automatic.  If 
the  shorthand  flows,  freely  from  mind  to  hand, 
even  an  ordinary  hand,  moving  not  rapidly,  but 
steadily  and  pauselessly  (which  prompt  think- 
ing of  the  shorthand  enables  it  to  do),  can  write 
a  good  many  words  in  a  minute,  even  though 
the  "system"  written  be  not  extremely  brief. 
He  who  has  discovered  how  to  write  shorthand 
without  hesitation  has  gone  far  toward  discover- 
ing the  "speed  secret." 

Hesitation  Mistaken  for  Slow>Handedness. 

The  disease  often  diagosed  as  slow-handedness 
is  in  many  cases  not  slow-handedness,  but  hesita- 
tion. Many  a  young  shorthand  writer,  whose 
average  speed  is  but  80  or  90  words  a  minute, 
reaches,  during  a  part  of  every  minute,  a  pace 
of  160  or  180.  This  pace  he  could  easily  keep 
up  but  for  the  fact  that  two  or  three  times  or 
oftener  during  every  minute,  his  hand  is  brought 
to  a  standstill,  while  he  hesitatingly  decides 
how  a  particular  word  or  phrase  should  be  writ- 
ten. If  these  deadly  pauses,  during  which  the 
eager  hand  waits  upon  the  lagging  mind,  could 
be  overcome — if  the  young  phonographer  could 


136  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

only  write  all  words  as  promptly  and  rapidly 
as  he  can  write  some — ^how  smooth  his  pathway 
would  be! 

Hesitation  Entails  Illegibility. 

This  hesitating  habit  affects  legibility  as  well 
as  speed.  A  boggling  mind  eauses  a  jerky,  spas- 
modic movement  of  the  hand.  When  an  outline 
upon  which  the  writer  is  obliged  to  hesitate  has 
thrown  him  back  eight  or  ten  or  a  dozen  words, 
there  follows  a  scramble  to  catch  up.  The  hand 
struggles  forward  with  nervous,  spasmodic  haste. 
Like  a  railroad  train  belated  by  lingering  too 
long  at  a  particular  station,  it  rushes  on,  to 
make  up  for  lost  time.  And  shorthand,  thus 
written  with  hurried  hand  and  flurried  mind, 
proves  often  undecipherable. 

The  "Reporting   Vocabulary" — How  Acquired. 

One  of  the  most  common  causes  of  hesitation 
is  that  the  writer  has  failed  to  familiarize  him- 
self (as  he  should  do  before  undertaking  "speed 
practice")  with  the  well-established  outlines  for 
all  ordinarj^  words.  In  all  dictation  and  report- 
ing work,  a  limited  number  (but  only  a  limited 
number)  of  outlines  must  be  devised  off-hand  as 
the  words  are  uttered.     These  impromptu  out- 


CAUSES  OF  HESITATION.  137 

lines,  though  they  become  fewer  and  fewer  as 
the  writer's  practice  becomes  more  and  more 
extended,  never  disappear  altogether;  for  no 
mind  is  capacious  enough  to  master  by  rote- 
memorizing  all  the  words  that  a  stenographer 
must  write.  Outlines  which  require  to  be  in- 
vented at  the  moment  of  writing  are,  as  com- 
pared with  familiar  outlines,  time-losers.  If 
frequent,  they  sadly  reduce  the  average  of  speed. 
Even  with  the  learner  just  beginning  ''speed 
practice,"  they  should  be  but  a  small  percentage 
of  the  words  written.  If  they  form  a  large 
percentage,  either  the  matter  undertaken  is  of 
undue  difficulty,  or  "speed  practice"  has  begun 
too  soon.  Until  a  reasonably  large  "reporting 
vocabulary"  has  been  acquired,  "speed  prac- 
tice" is  premature  and  of  little  benefit.  The  pre- 
acquired  "reporting  vocabulary,"  even  of  him 
who  is  just  beginning  "speed  practice,"  should 
be  large  enough  to  save  him  from  hesitation 
about  all  ordinary  words.  The  outlines  of  these 
ordinary  words  are  to  be  familiarized  by  writ- 
ing again  and  again  the  exercises  under  the 
various  abbreviating  rules,  and  also  by  copying 
over  and  over  again  correctly-written  exercises 
in  "the  reporting  style." 


138  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

By  faithfully  copying  correct  "reporting 
style,"  the  student  will  learn,  not  only  the  fully- 
expressed  outlines  of  most  of  the  common 
words,  but  also  many  common  and  useful  word- 
signs,  with  which  he  should  familiarize  himself 
before  beginning  "speed  practice."  It  is  highly 
important  that  every  word-sign  he  attempts  to 
learn  should  be  learned  thoroughly.  Word-signs 
imperfectly  learned  are  one  of  the  commonest 
causes  of  hesitation.  Recalled  hesitatingly  and 
doubtfully,  word-signs  cause  to  many  writers  a 
far  greater  loss  of  time  than  could  the  most 
cumbrous  outlines  written  promptly.  In  no 
other  art  is  the  instantaneous  action  of  the 
memory  more  essential  than  in  shorthand. 
Whatever  a  stenographic  student  undertakes  to 
memorize,  he  must  memorize  more  thoroughly 
than  he  ever  memorized  the  multiplication  table 
or  the  Lord's  prayer. 

With  many  shorthand  writers,  the  memory 
works  treacherously  because  it  is  overburdened; 
and  this  is  more  likel}'  to  occur  in  connection 
with  word-signs  than  with  any  other  part  of  the 
system.  Hours  and  hours,  day  after  day,  are 
spent  in  conning  and  re-conning,  writing  and 
re-writing,  arbitrary  contractions  too  numerous 


CAUSES  OF  HESITATION.  139 

ever  to  be  mastered.  ]\Iany  of  the  words  upon 
whose  arbitrary  signs  time  is  thus  spent,  occur 
so  rarely  in  actual  work  as  never  to  pay  for 
their  laborious  acquisition,  even  if  they  be  well 
memorized.  If  not  well  memorized,  they  often 
work  direct  mischief  just  where  they  are  ex- 
pected to  be  a  benefit.  When  a  special  and  ar- 
bitrary abbreviation  representing  some  uncom- 
mon word  like  inclemency,  misconception,  uiv- 
discoverable,  etc.,  has  been,  as  the  student  sup- 
poses, learned,  his  actual  practice  does  not  call 
for  it  often  enough  to  keep  it  fresh  in  his  mem- 
ory. The  recollection  of  it  grows  dim ;  but,  alas ! 
it  does  not  fade  out  altogether.  At  some  unex- 
pected moment,  in  the  midst  of  hurried  note-tak- 
ing, the  out-of-the-way  word  is  uttered,  and  the 
supposed-to-be-memorized  word-sign,  if  instan- 
taneously recalled,  might  be  useful;  but,  sad  to 
say,  there  comes  to  the  mind  at  this  critical  mo- 
ment, not  a  clear,  prompt  recollection,  but  a 
tardy,  vague,  elusive,  tantalizing  reminiscence; 
and  while  the  writer  is  deciding  whether  the  ar- 
bitrary contraction  or  the  full  outline  should  be 
written,  precious  time  is  lost.*  Thus  the  at- 
tempted "cramming"  of  "more  contractions" 

♦This  point  cannot  be  emphasized  too  strongly. — The  Pub- 
Ushers. 


140  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

(often  undertaken  as  a  sovereign  cure  for  slow- 
handedness)  results  frequently  in  loss  of  speed, 
instead  of  gain.  Total  ignorance  of  any  contrac- 
tion is  bliss  compared  with  its  uncertain  or  tar- 
dy recollection.  No  writer  should  forget  that 
imperfectly-learned  word-signs  (and  they  must 
be  imperfectly  learned  if  too  many  are  under- 
taken), especially  word-signs  of  rare  occurrence, 
are  one  of  the  prime  causes  of  hesitation. 

Impromptu  Outlines. 

But,  however  well  all  common  outlines  may 
have  been  familiarized  by  reading  and  copying, 
however  thoroughly  all  ordinary  word-signs  may 
have  been  memorized,  there  must  occur  (as  al- 
ready intimated),  in  the  practice  of  every  writer, 
words  whose  outlines  require  to  be  devised  on 
the  spur  of  the  moment — to  be  built  up  in  the 
midst  of  rapid  speaking  by  a  quick,  masterly 
application  of  word-building  principles.  These 
outlines  thus  constructed  off-hand,  will,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  be  written  less  readily  than 
memorized  outlines ;  yet  if  these  impromptu  out- 
lines give  the  young  writer  very  great  trouble, 
something  must  be  wrong.  If  he  hesitates  in  de- 
termining on  which  side  the  I  hook  or  the  r  hook 
should  be  written — if  he  fails  to  make  a  half 


CAUSES   OF   HESITATION.  141 

length  or  a  double  length  stroke  where  the  rules 
require  it — if  he  turns  a  medial  s  circle  inside 
the  angle  of  two  adjoining  letters,  instead  of 
outside — if  he  confuses  the  /  hook  with  the  w 
hook — if,  in  fact,  he  commits  any  glaring  steno- 
graphic solecism,  or  if  he  hesitates  where  to 
place  the  vowels  which  a  new  outline  may  need 
in  order  to  make  it  safely  legible,  he  is  not  yet 
ripe  for  ' '  speed  practice. '  '*  He  must  turn  back 
to  his  elementary  lessons,  and  by  the  diligent 
and  repeated  writing  of  numerous  examples  un- 
der each  rule,  must  master  those  principles  of 
the  unjustly  despised  ''corresponding  style" 
which  he,  and  perhaps  his  teacher,  have  been  too 
eager  to  skim  over  for  the  sake  of  plunging  with 
undue  haste  into  "the  reporting  style."  If  the 
young  writer  is  ambitious  to  "write  as  reporters 
write,"  let  him  remember  that  it  is  by  having 
these  fundamental  abbreviating  principles  at 
his  finger-ends  that  the  reporter  of  widest  ex- 
perience is  saved  from  breaking  down  many  a 
time  every  day. 

Invariability  of  Outline. 

Another  cause  of  hesitation  with  many  a 
young  stenographer  is,  that  he  allows  himself 
to  write  a  word  sometimes  with  one  outline  and 


♦The  causes  of  hesitation  referred  to  in  this  passage  are 
peculiar  to  IMtmanic  shorthand. — The  Puhlishers. 


142  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

sometimes  with  another,  so  that  often,  when  he 
is  pressed  for  time,  several  conflicting  outlines 
suggest  themselves  for  the  same  word;  and 
among  these  he  must  make  a  hurried  and  hesi- 
tating choice.  Invariability  of  outline  is  one 
prime  factor  of  speed.  The  writer  should  not 
lengthen  his  accustomed  outlines  because  the 
speaker  is  slow,  nor  try  to  make  them  unusually 
brief,  because  the  speaker  is  fast.  On  the  slow- 
est speaker  the  stenographer's  briefest  ** report- 
ing style"  should,  if  possible,  be  used,  for  the 
sake  of  maintaining  uniform  habits.  On  this 
subject,  Andrew  J.  Graham  has  well  said:  "You 
should  have  settled  forms  for  the  more  frequent 
and  effective  words.  If  you  allow  yourself  to 
express  a  given  word  by  two  or  three  different 
outlines,  there  will  always  be  some  effort,  and 
more  or  less  loss  of  time,  in  deciding  in  each 
particular  case  how  you  shall  write."  Again  he 
says:  "Writing  a  word  in  full  part  of  the  time, 
and  part  of  the  time  by  a  word-sign,  tends  to 
cause  hesitation."* 


*Thp  emphasis  laid  upon  this  point  may  not  he  clear  to 
readers  who  are  not  familiar  with  I'itmanic  shorthand.  On 
account  of  the  numerous  ways  in  which  letters  may  be  repre- 
sented in  the  I'itmanic  styles — three  forms  for  R,  three  for 
L.  etc.. — most  long  words  can  be  written  In  several  "possible" 
ways.  The  ditficulty  is  to  choose  the  best  of  a  number  of 
possible  outlines;  in  fither  words,  to  arrive  at  "invariability 
of  out linf>."  --r/ie  Publishers. 


CAUSES  OF  HESITATION.  143 

The  Phrase-Seeking  Mania. 

Another  common  cause  of  hesitation  is  undue 
anxiety  to  invent  phrases.  Any  young  writer 
who  finds  that  his  mind  is  consciously  and  con- 
stantly occupied  during  note-taking  in  deciding 
whether  word-outlines  can  be  joined,  is  writing 
more  slowly  than  he  need  do.  This  remark  does 
not  imply  that  phrases  are  never  useful,  and 
therefore  never  to  be  written.  It  means  simply 
that  facile,  prompt,  time-saving  phrasing  is  the 
finishing  accomplishment  of  the  shorthand 
writer;  that  the  mere  novice  (in  which  term  I 
include  every  writer  who  has  not  attained  at 
least  a  hundred  words  a  minute)  is  incompetent 
to  undertake  impromptu  phrase-construction.  I 
do  not  mean  that  until  a  speed  of  100  words  a 
minute  has  been  attained,  each  word  should  be 
written  separately,  but  that  in  the  student's 
early  practice,  before  he  has  learned  to  write 
separate  words  unhesitatingly,  he  cannot  profit- 
ably give  any  part  of  his  attention  to  off-hand 
phrase-invention.  At  this  stage  he  should  confine 
himself  to  two  or  three  hundred  common  and 
useful  phrases,  Avhich  he  has  not  invented  for 
himself,  but  which  he  has  memorized  from  good 
models — such  phrases  as  it  is,  they  are,  may  be,  I 


144  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

am,  you  are,  shall  he,  will  he,  etc.  The  student, 
even  at  the  beginning  of  his  practice,  should  not 
write  these  common  and  useful  phrases  by  sep- 
arated outlines;  for  the  habit  of  doing  so  might 
afterward  be  hard  to  correct.  Hence,  at  a  stage 
when  attempts  at  phrase-invention  would  be  pre- 
mature and  harmful,  he  may  well  spend  time 
in  memorizing  from  correct  models  a  limited 
number  of  common  and  highly  useful  phrases. 

Phrasing  "Rules"  Over=Rated. 

There  is  nothing  more  unprofitable,  and  noth- 
ing more  likely  to  make  a  slow  writer,  than  the 
premature  study  of  phrasing  rules,  and  the  pre- 
mature attempt  to  apply  them  in  impromptu 
phrase-construction.  The  memorizing  of  a  lim- 
ited number  of  correctly-formed  and  constantly- 
useful  phrases  will  do  more  to  give  the  student 
a  practical  and  instinctive  insight  into  the  art 
of  phrasing  than  all  the  numerous  musts  and 
niust-nots  of  "phrasing  rules."  Under  the  mis- 
guided advice  of  certain  teachers  and  text-books, 
the  premature  effort  to  improvise  phrases  be- 
gins often  before  the  circles,  the  hooks,  the 
loops,  etc..  of  elementary  phonography  have  all 
been  mastered,  or  even  undertaken.    The  phrase- 


CAUSES   OF   HESITATION.  145 

seeking  mania,  thus  contracted  during  steno- 
graphic infancy,  is,  I  sincerely  believe,  doing 
more  to  raise  up  a  race  of  inevitably  slow 
writers  than  any  other  single  cause.  The  time 
which  an  immature  writer  may  occasionally  save 
by  the  invention  of  a  properly-formed  phrase 
(hit  upon,  if  at  all,  by  accident  rather  than  good 
judgment),  is  vastly  more  than  counterbalanced 
by  the  time  lost  in  making,  with  hesitating, 
painful  effort,  awkward,  clumsy,  and  illegible 
junctions,  or  in  pondering  upon  junctions  which, 
after  time  has  been  wasted  in  deliberating, 
strike  the  mind  of  even  the  beginner  as  inadmis- 
sible or  impossible.  Thus,  in  the  ease  of  many 
beginners,  it  is  doubtful  whether  more  time  is 
lost  upon  the  phrases  which  are  not  made,  or 
upon  those  which  are.  I  have  met  many  young 
writers  who  have  become  such  pitiable  victims 
of  the  phrasing  disease  as  almost  to  forbid  the 
hope  of  their  ever  attaining  the  most  modest 
and  moderate  speed. 

When  Should  Impromptu  Phrasing  Begin? 

But  it  may  be  asked,  when  should  the  young 
reporter  begin  to  form  phrases  for  himself? 
Adopting  in  part  the  language  of  Thomas  Allen 
Reed,    I   answer:     "When   one   has   acquired   a 


146  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

reasonable  facility  in  writing,  and  a  moderate 
degree  of  speed;  when  all  the  word-signs  have 
been  familiarized;  when  all  the  common  word- 
forms  come  readily  to  the  hand;  when  there  is 
no  longer  any  effort  in  thinking  out  the  outlines 
of  words;  when,  instead  of  the  hand  waiting 
for  the  mind,  as  formerly,  the  mind  outruns 
the  hand;  when  words  to  be  written  as  a  group 
can  be  grasped  by  the  mind  as  a  group  before 
the  pen  begins  to  write  the  first  word  of  the 
combination ;  then,  if  the  young  reporter  should 
feel  a  craving  to  get  down  on  paper  more  quick- 
ly the  word-forms  as  they  crowd  upon  his  mind, 
he  may  permit  himself  to  do  what  has  been 
well  said  to  be  a  characteristic  of  the  accom- 
plished reporter — "to  catch  words  bj-  the  hand- 
ful." The  author  of  this  happy  expression  (Mr. 
Fred  Irland)  has  not  said  that  any  beginner 
can  thus  "catch  words  by  the  handful";  nor 
does  he  recommend  that  beginners  should  try 
to  do  so.  At  an  advanced  stage  of  shorthand 
study,  when,  by  the  ordinary  abbreviating  prin- 
ciples of  the  system,  and  by  the  use  of  a  few 
hundred  well-memorized  word-signs  and  phrases, 
a  moderate  speed  has  been  attained,  the  art  of 
phrase-invention,  to   vvhatever  extent  desirable, 


CAUSES   OF   HESITATION.  147 

can  be  practiced  without  running  into  ruinous 
channels — can  be  practiced  in  such  a  way  as 
to  be  an  aid  to  speed,  not  a  hindrance.  The 
experience  which  the  student  has  by  this  time 
acquired  will  enable  him,  in  making  phrases 
for  himself,  to  proceed  wisely  and  profitably. 
And  at  this  stage,  he  will  have  but  small 
need  for  fine-spun  "phrasing  rules."  Having 
learned  phrase-making  from  practical  examples, 
he  will  have  little  occasion  for  abstract  precepts. 
His  memorized  phrases  will  have  familiarized 
him  with  every  useful  principle  of  phrasing ;  and 
the  writing  of  good  phrases  will  have  become  to 
him  almost  an  instinct.  He  will  have  learned 
that  pen-lifts  are  saved  at  too  great  cost  where 
their  avoidance  entails  an  ever-present  hesita- 
tion. He  will  have  acquired  in  reference  to 
phrasing  what  Mr.  Reed  has  called  ''the  culti- 
vated instinct."  By  a  sort  of  intuition  he  will 
avoid  unnatural  and  awkward  joinings.  He  will 
feel  none  of  the  misinstructed  tyro's  eagerness 
to  string  words  together  in  combinations  of  im- 
moderate length.  His  experience  in  writing  and 
reading  will  enable  him  to  avoid  phrases  which 
may  be  confounded  with  single  word-forms.  Le- 
gitimate, time-saving  phrases  will  drop  from  his 


148  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

pen  with  easy  flow  and  without  painful  seeking. 
And  thus  the  much-mooted  phrase-problem  will 
have  been  solved  in  the  easiest,  the  safest,  the 
best,  the  only  practicable  way. 


HOW  DO  REPORTERS  PHRASE? 


That  phrasing,  rightly  studied  and  rightly 
practiced,  is  a  most  valuable  reporting  aid,  con- 
ducive alike  to  legibility  and  speed,  can  scarcely 
be  considered  an  open  question.  Carried  to  a 
wild  extreme,  as  the  phrasing  propensity  too 
often  is,  it  no  doubt  becomes  a  hindrance,  not 
a  help ;  yet  the  fact  remains  too  plain  for  argu- 
ment that  modern  shorthand  systems  give  con- 
stant opportunities  for  writing  words  without 
a  pen-lift  so  as  greatly  to  increase  speed  with- 
out loss  of  legibility,  often  with  gain  in 
legibility ;  and  these  opportunities  cannot  be 
neglected  by  any  stenographer  who  aspires  to 
be  a  master  of  his  art. 

Though  on  certain  aspects  of  the  phrasing 
question  there  have  been  wide  differences  and 
warm  disputes,  and  though,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
some  expert  stenographers  phrase  much  more 
freely  and  frequently  than  others;  yet  I  believe 
the  actual  word  of  practical  men  shows  as  close 
a  practical  agreement  on  this  subject  as  can  be 

149 


150  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

expected  where  so  much  depends  upon  personal 
peculiarities  of  mind  and  hand.  Waiving  all 
abstract  questions  connected  with  this  subject, 
I  shall  undertake  to  show,  for  the  information 
of  the  shorthand  student,  when,  how,  and  to 
what  extent  expert  stenographers  actually  phrase 
in  work  demanding  high  speed. 

Memorized   Phrases   and   Extemporized   Phrases. 

It  is  my  belief  that,  while  expert  writers  differ 
as  to  the  number  of  phrases  which  they  employ 
in  rapid  work,  they  substantially  agree  as  to 
the  classes  of  phrases  which  they  find  useful  and 
possible.  The  phrases  used  in  actual  reporting 
by  experts  fall  naturally  into  two  classes,  the 
memorized  phrase  and  the  extemporized  phrase. 
The  memorized  phrase  may  have  been  learned 
as  a  set  task  or  may  have  been  memorized  un- 
consciously. Its  characteristic  is  that  it  is  not 
originated  during  actual  reporting.  The  re- 
porting notes  of  every  rapid  writer  show  a  vast, 
and  I  believe  a  preponderating,  proportion  of 
phrases  which  have  not  been  constructed  upon 
the  impulse  of  the  moment.  Every  stenographer 
stores  up  as  a  part  of  his  stock  in  trade  a  goodly 
number  of  frequently-recurring  phrases,  such  as 


HOW   DO  REPORTERS   PHRASE?  151 

''it  is,"  "which  is,"  "there  is,"  "I  think,"  "I 
am,"  "we  are,"  "do  you,"  "are  you,"  "there 
are,"  "must  be,"  "can  be,"  "are  there,"  "in 
there, "  "  did  not, "  "  do  not, "  "  had  not. "  These 
and  other  simple  phrases  which  every  reporter's 
notes  disclose,  are  phrases  which  he  cannot  be 
suposed  to  have  originated  on  the  spur  of  the 
moment.  They  are  such  as  he  must  have  writ- 
ten over  and  over  again  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  times.  By  reason  of  their  simplicity  and  fre- 
quency, they  have  so  worked  themselves  into  his 
mind  and  fingers  that  they  drop  from  his  pen 
without  conscious  thought.  He  may  have  learned 
them  ready-made  from  the  phrase-lists  in  his 
text-books;  or  he  may  at  some  long-past  period 
have  performed  for  himself  the  very  simple  labor 
of  their  construction ;  or  he  may  have  imbibed 
them  unconsciously  from  the  shorthand  he  has 
read  or  copied. 

Let  it  be  particularly  observed  in  regard  to 
this  large  class  of  phrases  found  in  the  work  of 
practical  reporters,  that  they  are  the  phrases  of 
common,  every-day  speech.  They  recur  again 
and  again.  Because  the  word-groups  which 
these  sign-groups  represent  are  pat  on  the  popu- 
lar tongue,   they  have  become  pat  to   the  re- 


152  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

porter's  pen.  Other  phrases  which  he  may  have 
memorized  have  been  forgotten,  because  rarely 
required,  for,  as  says  the  "Phonetic  Journal" 
(July,  1892),  "A  phrase,  however  good  it  may 
be,  if  it  be  one  that  the  writer  does  not  have 
occasion  to  use  frequently,  will  not  come  to  his 
mind  [in  speedy  writing]  with  sufficient  celerity 
to  be  available."  But  these  common,  every-day 
phrases  have  been  stamped  upon  the  reporter's 
memory  in  such  a  way  that  they  have  become, 
as  it  were,  a  part  of  his  very  nature.  And  most 
fortunate  it  is  that  repetition  thus  makes  famil- 
iar to  the  reporter 's  pen  those  words  and  phrases 
which,  because  frequently  uttered,  are  rapidly 
uttered. 

But  we  also  find,  scattered  through  the  notes 
of  accomplished  reporters,  phrases  which  have 
been  extemporized  as  the  speech  proceeded. 
The  extemporized  phrase  defines  itself.  The 
reporter  in  the  act  of  writing  brings  together 
two  or  more  words  which  he  has  never  been 
taught  to  join  and  which  he  has  never  joined 
before.  He  has  formed  a  new  combination,  and 
has  done  this  off-hand.  The  extemporized  phrases 
which  appear  in  the  reporting  notes  of  an  accom- 
plished writer  are  often  most  happy  and  apposite. 


HOW  DO  REPORTERS  PHRASE?  153 

indicating  thorough  training  of  mind  and  hand. 
But  the  cold  truth  must  be  told  that,  as  the 
speaking  becomes  more  and  more  rapid,  the  in- 
vention of  phrases  upon  the  spur  of  the  moment 
becomes  for  most  writers  less  and  less  easy,  and 
consequently  the  extemporized  phrase  grows 
rarer  and  rarer,  until,  when  rapidity  has  reached 
its  acme,  the  extemporized  phrase  disappears 
almost  entirely.  There  are  very  few  reporters — 
I  do  not  say  there  are  none — who  can  evolve 
from  brain  and  hand,  impromptu  phrases  when 
the  spoken  words  are  speeding  on  with  almost 
lightning-like  rapidity. 

Rapid  Writing  Shows  Few  Impromptu  Phrases. 

The  remark  of  the  "Phonetic  Journal"  (July, 
1892),  in  an  article  already  quoted  (presumably 
from  the  pen  of  Isaac  Pitman),  that  "almost  all 
the  great  feats  of  fast  writing  have  been  accom- 
plished with  a  very  small  use  of  phraseography, ' ' 
is  true  in  this  sense :  that  such  feats  bring  into 
play  very  few  phrases  except  such  as  have  been 
thoroughly  memorized.  These  exceptional  ex- 
hibitions of  fast  writing  show  no  phrases,  or 
scarcely  any,  invented  on  the  spur  of  the  moment. 
Many  a  student  who  is  laboring  hard  to  acquire 


154  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

the  art  of  phrase-invention,  as  if  the  secret  of 
swift  writing  consisted  in  the  evolution  of  short- 
hand phrases  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  will  be 
startled  to  learn  that  impromptu  phrases — 
phrases  invented  as  the  speaking  proceeds — are 
not  the  phrases  that  help  the  reporter  over  the 
hard  places.  With  an  overwhelming  majority  of 
even  expert  writers,  it  is  undeniably  true  that 
when  high  speed  begins,  phrase  invention  ends. 
I  think  I  might  challenge  any  one  to  show  me  a 
specimen  of  notes  written  at  as  high  a  speed  as 
two  hundred  words  a  minute,  in  which  any  ex- 
traordinary or  peculiar  combination  of  words, 
meeting  the  writer  for  the  first  time  on  that  par- 
ticular occasion,  has  been  phrased. 

In  the  stress  of  rapid  speech  the  memorized 
phrase  is  the  reporter's  mainstay.  If  well  mem- 
orized, it  comes  into  play  as  fully  and  freelj^  as 
in  slower  utterances,  demonstrating  more  and 
more  its  indispensable  utility.  It  is  constantly 
and  pricelessly  useful.  It  is  crowned  by  two 
special  merits.  Representing,  as  it  always  should, 
a  frequently-recurring  word-group,  it  pays  for 
its  adoption  over  and  over  again,  day  after  day 
and  year  after  year.  More  than  that,  it  helps 
where  help  is  especially  needed,  because  words 


HOW  DO  REPORTERS  PHRASE?  155 

or    word-groups    which    frequently    recur    are 
spoken  with  more  than  average  rapidity. 

Catching  Up  "With  a  Bound." 

In  praise  of  phrasing,  the  remark  has  been 
frequently  repeated  that  the  reporter,  when 
pressed  by  a  rapid  speaker,  who  threatens  to 
leave  him  in  the  lurch,  is  often  enabled  to  bring 
himself  up  "with  a  bound"  by  means  of  some 
apt  and  timely  phraseogram.  For  instance, 
Thomas  Allen  Reed  speaks  of  phrases  which, 
**like  some  good  fairy,  have  helped  him  over  the 
ground  when  running  a  hard  race."  But  mark 
the  illustrative  phrases  which  he  mentions.  They 
are  not  phrases  constructed  for  the  first  time 
amid  the  stress  of  rapid  speaking,  but  such 
phrases  as  "in  point  of  fact,"  "as  a  matter  of 
fact,"  "do  you  mean  to  say,"  which  he  had 
doubtless  been  writing  habitually  for  years.  The 
welcome  relief  which  phrasing  affords  at  critical 
moments,  when  the  reporter  is  lagging  behind 
the  speaker,  comes  not  from  impromptu  phras- 
ing, I  doubt  whether  any  practical  reporter — 
Mr.  Reed  or  any  one  else — can  name  a  case  in 
which  he  was  helped  over  a  hard  place  by  ex- 
temporizing   a   phrase-sign    for    an    unfamiliar 


156  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

word-group,  meeting  him  for  the  first  time  in 
the  midst  of  rapid  speaking. 

Recurrent  Word-Groups. 

Another  class  of  phrases  written  sometimes  by 
the  practical  reporter  should  not  be  overlooked. 
Though,  as  already  remarked,  the  reporter  in 
rapid  writing  very  rarely  combines  in  a  phrase 
a  group  of  words  which  he  is  called  upon  to 
write  for  the  first  time,  yet  a  word-group  un- 
familiar to  the  writer  when  the  speaker  first 
utters  it — peculiar  perhaps  to  a  given  subject- 
matter — may,  when  once  introduced,  recur  again 
and  again;  and  though  the  reporter  does  not 
phrase  it  when  he  first  hears  it,  yet  the  recurrent 
word-group  naturally  suggests,  before  many 
repetitions  have  occurred,  an  appropriate  sign- 
group.  This  sort  of  phrase-invention  is  with 
most  reporters  quite  common,  and  is  not  in  con- 
flict with  the  fact  already  stated,  that  a  phrase- 
sign  is  rarely  extemporized  during  hurried 
speech  for  a  word-group  newly  encountered. 

The  Practice  of  Reporters  Summarized. 

The  practice  of  reporters  in  general  with  re- 
spect to  the  subject  of  phrasing  may  be  summed 
up  in  the  following  propositions: 


ROW  DO  REPORTERS  PHRASE?  157 

1.  A  vast  majority  of  the  phrases  which  the 
reporter  writes  are  memorized  phrases,  which, 
if  well  memorized,  are  as  freely  used  during 
rapid  as  during  slow  speaking. 

2.  During  moderate  speaking  the  reporter 
exercises  to  a  limited  degree,  in  some  cases  to 
a  large  degree,  the  faculty  of  phrase-invention 
upon  word-groups  encountered  for  the  first 
time. 

3.  During  extremely  rapid  speaking,  he  does 
not  invent,  or  very  rarely  invents,  sign-groups 
for  absolutely  new  word-groups. 

4.  During  rapid  speaking  he  sometimes,  in- 
deed frequently,  invents  sign-groups  for  recup- 
rent  word-groups. 

The  Book-Maker's  Phrase. 

Besides  the  classes  of  phrases  already  de- 
scribed (all  of  which  are  found  in  the  notes 
of  practical  reporters),  there  is  a  third  class  of 
phrases,  never  discovered  in  genuine  reporting 
notes,  but  found  only  in  the  carefully  elaborated 
specimens  of  so-called  "reporting  style"  appear- 
ing from  time  to  time  in  certain  magazines  and 
text-books.  These  are  phrases  concocted  labori- 
ously in  the  mind  of  some  theorist,  who,  sitting 


158  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

in  the  quiet  of  his  library,  wielding  no  reporter's 
pen  and  pressed  by  no  reporter's  exigencies, — 
intent  only  on  illustrating  the  phrasing  capabili- 
ties of  a  particular  "system" — can  take  all  the 
time  he  chooses  to  invent  methods  of  joining 
words  which  cannot  come  together  perhaps  more 
than  once  in  a  lifetime,  and  which,  if  encoun- 
tered for  the  first  time  in  actual  speaking,  would 
not  and  could  not  be  written  by  any  reporter  in 
the  manner  in  which  the  theorizing  constructor 
of  "reporting  exercises"  takes  so  much  pride. 
These  forced  and  unnatural  combinations  may 
be  called  "book-maker's  phrases,"  because  on 
the  pages  of  text-books  they  shine  in  all  their 
glory;  or  "excogitated  phrases,"  because  in 
their  far-fetched  intricacy  they  are  the  products 
of  a  state  of  mind  unknown  to  the  reporter. 
Note  the  characteristics  of  the  "book-maker's 
phrase":  first,  the  word-group  selected  for 
phrasing  is  extremely  rare;  second,  the  method 
of  representation  is  generally  overstrained  and 
unnatural,  such  as  could  not  be  devised  off-hand 
amid  hurried  speaking.  Here  are  some  examples 
of  such  phrases — not  manufactured  by  myself, 
but  culled  from  text-books  or  "reporting  style'' 
exercises  representing  various  authors  and  sys- 


HOW  DO  REPORTERS   PHRASE?  159 

terns ;  for  alas !  the  mania  for  inventing  these 
"fearfully  and  wonderfully  made"  eombina-* 
tions  is  not  confined  to  a  single  author  or  a 
single  "system": 

"A  scientific  fact  that  the," 

"A  single  sandwich," 

"Before  he  ventured  to  speak  of  it," 

"In  his  imperial  anger," 

"Of  sacrificing  their  own  rank," 

"As  his  master  is," 

"When  we  receive  their  permission," 

"Is  said  to  have  forced," 

"Let  their  future  course  decide," 

"Murder  their  own  families," 

"How  many  times  will  you  receive  this 
notice," 

"Having  observed  the  ebb  and  flow," 

"Can  stand  in  Washington  street," 

"To  plow  your  lands," 

"For  all  you  know  we  may  receive," 

"From  the  vile  mire," 

"Smites  its  victims," 

"I  know  that  I  am  not  going  to  be  ap- 
plauded," 

"His  spirited  speeches," 

"Is  essentially  distinct," 


160  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPBED. 

"Before  a  system  of  grammar," 

"In  one  of  his  many  passages," 

It  scarcely  need  be  said  that  phrases  of  this 
kind,  representing  nothing  desirable  or  even  pos- 
sible in  reporting  work,  are  most  dangerous 
models  for  imitation;  and  if  the  student  aims 
to  achieve  in  his  own  writing,  phrases  based 
on  models  so  vicious,  he  hopelessly  handicaps 
himself,  and  speed  is  out  of  the  question.  Yet 
strange  to  say,  such  phrases  seem  to  have  for 
certain  minds  a  peculiar  fascination.  They  are 
accepted  by  thousands  of  students  as  specimens 
of  what  reporters  are  doing  in  their  every-day 
work  and  what  the  student  must  learn  to  do  if 
he  would  attain  reporting  speed.  Inspired  by 
such  vicious  and  deluding  examples,  one  zealous 
young  writer  once  showed  me  boastfully,  as  a 
praiseworthy  achievement  in  the  art  of  phras- 
ing, the  wonderfully  useful  ( ?)  combination, 
"cut  to  the  exact  size  of  the  coin,"  which  he 
had  written  without  lifting  the  pen  ("to  the" 
and  "of  the"  being  of  course  implied). 

The  mischief  done  and  doing  by  circulating 
specimens  of  spurious  "reporting  style"  which 
no  reporter  does  or  can  write,  has  spread  too 
far  and  wide  for  any  words  of  mine  ever  to 


HOW  DO  REPORTERS  PHRASE?  161 

reach  a  tithe  of  its  deluded  victims.  I  can  only 
make  this  earnest  protest  against  these  artificial, 
far-fetched,  impracticable  methods  of  phrasing, 
and  appeal  to  practical  reporters  of  every  "sys- 
tem" to  sustain  the  protest. 

Such  phrases  as  those  just  exhibited,  when 
once  accepted  by  the  student  as  models,  are  not 
only  misleading  but  highly  discouraging.  When 
he  finds,  as  he  must,  that  he  is  unable  to  achieve 
any  such  ingenious  combinations  under  speed 
pressure — when  he  finds  that  the  writing  in 
which  he  most  studiously  and  laboriously  phrases 
is  his  slowest  work — he  naturally  concludes  that 
anything  like  reporting  skill  must  for  months 
and  years  be  beyond  his  reach.  And  well  may 
he  so  conclude,  if  reporting  skill  depends  upon 
achieving  in  practice  the  outlandish,  over- 
strained and  unnatural  phrases  which  are  placed 
before  him  as  examples  for  imitation. 

An   Object   Lesson   in   Phrasing. 

"Young  stenographers,"  says  the  "Phonetic 
Journal, "  "  are  astonished  when  they  come  across 
a  fac-simile  of  notes  taken  at  a  high  speed  and 
discover  that  there  is  no  such  abundance  of 
phrases  as  they  expected."     In  verification  of 


162  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

this  remark  and  to  show  how  few  and  simple 
are  the  phrases  by  means  of  which  rapid  writ- 
ing is  accomplished,  I  invite  the  reader's  atten- 
tion to  the  text  of  three  extracts  from  speech 
matter,  written  at  high  speed  by  three  English 
stenographers.  The  magazine  ("The  Reporter's 
Journal,"  London)  from  which  these  extracts  are 
taken,  publishes  along  with  them  fac-simile  re- 
productions of  the  original  notes.  The  words 
phrased  in  the  original  notes,  I  have  indicated 
by  parentheses.  Let  the  reader  observe  the 
character  of  the  phrases  achieved  under  ex- 
treme speed  pressure.  Let  him  also  note  the 
word-groups  which  are  not  stenographically 
phrased.  Let  him  note  the  fewness  of  the  sign- 
groups  in  comparison  with  the  number  which 
the  ambitious  beginner  would  suppose  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  attainment  of  high  speed.  Let 
him  observe,  too,  the  utter  absence  of  that 
strained  and  unnatural  creation  of  theorists  and 
their  followers — the  excogitated  phrase.  Let  him 
observe  that  scarcely  one  of  the  sign-groups 
actually  used  can  be  supposed  to  have  been  in- 
vented on  the  spur  of  the  moment.  Practically 
every  phrase  occurring  in  the  written  notes  is 
the  product  of  memory,  not  invention — is  such 


HOW  DO  REPORTERS  PHRASE?  163 

as  the  writer  must  have  been  thoroughly  familiar 
with  before  he  took  up  his  pen  to  write  the 
passage. 

The  following,  written  by  Frank  A.  Williams 
at  the  rate  of  210  words  a  minute,  contains  26 
phrases  in  235  words: 

(Mr.  President),  (Ladies  and  Gentlemen)  :  I 
(very  much)  wish  to  say  a  few  words  (on  this 
subject)  of  possible  speed.  (I  do  not  know) 
(that  it  comes)  with  (very  good)  grace  (from 
myself) ;  but  (I  am  going)  to  trust  myself  to 
your  kindness  which  you  have  shown  to  a 
stranger  in  a  strange  land,  to  bear  with  me  who 
deserves  (so  little),  because  I  want  to  say  some- 
thing on  behalf  (of  some  others).  (I  suppose) 
(that  this)  whole  business  (with  reference)  (to 
this)  contest  arose  (out  of)  the  letter  that  (I 
had)  the  misfortune  to  write  two  (years  ago) 
(to  the)  secretary  of  the  International  Short- 
hand Writers'  Association.  (In  that)  letter  I 
tried  to  say  that  I  thought  that  when  certain 
teachers  and  text-book  writers  ridiculed  the  idea 
of  high  speed — (I  thought)  (that  it  was)  some- 
thing which  all  stenographers  ought  to  pay  a 
little  more  attention  to,  because  wherever  (there 
is)  a  (shorthand-writer)  who  can  get  a  hundred 


164  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

(words  a  minute)  on  paper,  (he  is)  very  apt  to 
foster  and  countenance  the  idea  that  anything 
above  that  (does  not  count).  (In  that)  letter 
I  made  use  of  perhaps  an  injudicious  expres- 
sion. (It  was)  this, — that  (I  believe)  (there 
are)  several  men  in  Michigan — and  I  used  the 
term  Michigan  merely  incidentally — who  could 
write  250  (words  a  minute)  (in  court)  when 
reporting.  That  was  taken  up  and  discussed." 
The  following,  written  by  George  W.  Bun- 
bury  at  the  rate  of  220  words  a  minute,  con- 
tains 50  phrases  in  283  words  :* 

(Lord  Salisbury),  (on  rising)  (to  reply), 
(was  received)  with  prolonged  cheers.  Having 
returned  thanks  (for  the)  unanimity  (with 
which  the)  resolution  was  carried,  he  proceeded 
to  (point  out)  that  constituencies  (such  as 
those)  of  Sussex  (and  London)  and  other 
boroughs  which  he  might  mention,  which  had 
long  been  endowed  (with  the)  franchise  (and 
which)  had  always  been  keenly  interested  (in 
the)  political  facts  of  the  country,  had  almost 
without  exception  remained  Conservative,  where- 
as the  constituencies  not  long  (exercising  the) 
franchise   were    (more  or  less)    (at   the  mercy) 


"As  lo  these  ligiiros,  soe  footnote  on  page  38. 


HOW  DO   REPORTERS   PHRASE?  165 

of  agitators  seeking  opportunities  (of  making) 
political  capital  (for  themselves)  (and  their) 
party.  Continuing  (he  also)  said:  As  to  (what 
the)  issue  of  the  impending  election  (may  be) 
(I  am  not)  careful  (to  speak)  (to  you).  Though 
(I  have)  the  firm  belief  that  (it  will)  issue  in 
a  manner  agreeable  (to  our)  (own  hopes),  I 
still  think  (that  we  have)  even  larger  issues  (to 
regard).  One  of  the  preceding  speakers  men- 
tioned (that  the)  experience  of  all  parliament-s 
(since  the)  (Reform  Bill)  (has  been)  (against 
us).  (I  do  not  think)  (that  is)  entirely  the 
case.  (As  far  as)  (I  remember),  (there  has 
only)  been  one  parliament  (that  has)  gone 
through  six  years  (under  the)  same  ministry; 
(and  that)  parliament — Lord  Palmerston's  Par- 
liament— when  (it  was)  dissolved,  issued  in  a 
strong  majority  (for  the)  Government  of  the 
day.  The  (Prime  Minister)  died  immediately 
afterwards,  but  (I  hope)  (I  am  not)  to  consider 
that  among  necessary  events.  Individual  min- 
isters come  and  go,  but  the  Conservative  cause 
lives.  After  a  brief  reference  (to  the)  un- 
troubled condition  of  foreign  politics,  (he  also), 
referring  (to  the)  labor  problem  (at  home), 
continued,  (we  can  not)  look  abroad  (into  the) 
territories  (which  are)   occupied." 


166  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

The  following,  written  by  Harry  Toothill  at 
the  rate  of  276  words  a  minute,*  contains  41 
phrases  in  276  words: 

(Mr.  Gosehen)  said:  (I  do  not  know)  (how 
many)  (of  you)  (in  this)  room  I  may  address 
as  brother  electors  of  the  Rye  division  of  Sus- 
sex. (I  am)  here  to-night  (in  my)  capacity  as 
an  elector  (for  this)  division,  and  (I  am)  here 
to  congratulate  (this  association)  on  having 
taken  an  early  opportunity  of  showing  (that 
the)  southeastern  parts  of  the  (United  King- 
dom) (are  not)  behind  the  rest  (in  their)  strong 
interest  (in  the)  great  controversy  (which  is 
now)  being  waged  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  town.  (We  are)  sometimes  told 
that  (in  the)  southeastern  and  southern  parts 
of  the  (United  Kingdom)  (we  have  not)  ad- 
vanced (to  the)  political  intelligence  (which  is) 
displayed  in  Lancashire  (and  the)  northern 
constituencies.  (Let  us  do)  what  (in  us)  lies 
to  disprove  the  charge.  The  south  of  England 
has  lost  some  (of  its)  representatives,  (and  the) 
numbers  thus  saved  (in  the)  representation 
(have  been)  distributed  among  more  populous 
neighborhoods.     (Let  us  look)    (to  it)   (that  we) 

*As  to  these  figures,  see  footnote  on    page  38. — The  Pub- 


HOW  DO   REPORTERS   PHRASE?  167 

make  the  best  use  of  the  representation  left  (to 
us).  (I  do  not  know)  (that  there  has  been) 
any  more  momentous  time  (in  the)  political 
history  (of  this  country)  than  the  present.  (Not 
only)  has  there  been  a  new  extension  of  the 
franchise,  (but  the)  electoral  divisions  (have 
been)  readjusted  and  a  process  (has  been)  go- 
ing on  in  politics  which  might  be  likened  (to 
the)  breaking  up  of  the  regimental  system  (in 
the)  army.  Still  we  (must  not)  exaggerate. 
Much  is  said  about  a  transfer  of  power  (to  the) 
masses.  I  prefer  to  speak  of  the  re-partition  of 
power,  because  power  must  remain  and  I  trust 
will  remain." 

Each  of  the  specimens  of  the  original  notes 
of  the  foregoing  text  is  accompanied  in  the  ' '  Re- 
porters'  Journal"  with  a  shorthand  key,  which, 
having  been  prepared  by  the  editor  at  his 
leisure,  shows  far  more  profuse  phrasing  than 
the  hard-pressed  reporter  had  time  to  think  of. 
There  could  scarcely  be  a  better  demonstration 
than  is  thus  furnished  of  the  fact  that  "the 
mind  when  pushed  works  by  the  easiest 
methods";  and  that  phrase-invention  cannot 
take  place  to  any  considerable  extent  under  ex- 
treme speed  pressure.     In  the  language  of  the 


168  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

*' Phonetic  Journal,"  "A  phrase,  however  useful 
it  may  be,  if  it  be  one  that  the  writer  does  not 
have  occasion  to  use  frequently,  will  not  come 
to  his  mind  when  under  examination  [for 
speed]  with  suflScient  celerity  to  be  available. 
*  *  *  In  very  rapid  work  there  is  no  time 
for  thought,  no  time  to  recall  useful  devices, 
no  time  to  do  anything  except  to  write  down  as 
mechanically  as  possible  that  which  is  heard. 
Paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  it  is  true  that  the 
more  slowly  one  writes,  the  more  easy  it  is  to 
use  phraseography  freely.  The  mind  has  more 
leisure  to  think,  and  the  hand  more  time  to 
form  intricate  combinations  neatly  and  care- 
fully." 


"THE  MOST  INFERNAL  MISTAKE 
THAT  WAS  EVER  MADE." 


Though,  as  has  been  shown,  the  impromptu 
invention  of  phrases  cuts  little  figure  in  the 
stenographer's  most  rapid  work,  thousands  of 
young  stenographers  in  all  English-speaking 
countries  are  toiling  to  acquire  the  art  of  in- 
venting shorthand  phrases  oif-hand.  They  are 
taught  to  believe  that  this  art  is  "the  secret  of 
rapid  writing" — the  indispensable  accomplish- 
ment of  every  person  worthy  the  name  of  a  re- 
porter. And  the  student  is  invited  to  begin  the 
study  of  this  art  almost  as  soon  as  he  has  mas- 
tered the  stenographic  alphabet.  By  one  author 
the  subject  of  phrase-invention  is  introduced  in 
the  eighth  lesson  of  the  text-book;  by  another, 
in  the  fourth;  by  another,  in  the  third!  The 
student,  it  seems,  is  not  to  content  himself  with 
learning  carefully-constructed  and  fully-tested 
phrases,  as  set  down  for  him  by  an  experienced 
author  or  teacher.     With  no  better  equipment 

169 


170  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

than  his  own  crude  and  immature  notions,  he 
must  plunge  in  and  construct  phrases  for  him- 
self. He  must  be  ever  on  the  alert  lest  some 
phrase  combination  admissible  by  the  rules  of 
phrasing  may  escape  him.  "In  all  his  practice," 
says  the  well-known  stenographic  author,  Mr. 
W.  W.  Osgoodby,  "the  student  should  carefully 
watch  for  and  study  every  opportunity  for  use- 
ful phrasing  that  may  be  afforded  by  the  matter 
he  is  writing."  And  he  must  not  be  discour- 
aged, if  he  finds  himself  losing  time  in  his 
attempt  to  construct  for  himself  those  supposed 
time-savers — extemporized  phrases.  Says  Mr. 
Fred  Pitman:  "Let  him  (the  student)  sedu- 
lously look  for  phrases  which  are  of  value  and 
employ  them.  If  it  is  necessary  for  him  to 
write  slowly  in  order  to  secure  the  use  of 
phrases,  then  without  question  it  is  proper  that 
the  student  in  a  considerable  portion  of  his 
daily  practice  should  write  slowly.  *  *  * 
This  will  confirm  him  in  the  habit  of  finding 
phrases,  of  making  phrases,  of  using  phrases — 
a  habit,  we  aver,  which  should  be  cultivated  in 
the  highest  possible  degree  by  those  who  desire 
to  write  with  great  swiftness."  Thus  by  bad 
precept  is  the  bad  example  of  the  excogitating 
phraser  reinforced. 


MOST  INFERNAL  MISTAKE  EVER  MADE.  171 

Dissenting,  as  I  do  most  decidedly,  from  such 
teaching  as  that  just  quoted,  I  cite  with  pleas- 
ure the  words  of  an  eminent  reporter  of  long 
experience,  Mr.  A.  P.  Little,  of  Rochester,  whose 
emphatic  condemnation  of  phrasing  is,  as  his 
language  shows,  directed,  not  against  those  com- 
mon phrases  which  every  reporter  has,  and  must 
have,  at  his  pen's  point  for  constant  use,  but 
against  the  misguided  and  fruitless  attempts  to 
achieve  high  speed  by  impromptu  phrasing: 

"Teachers  of  shorthand  are  urging  pupils  to 
phrase.  Authors  are  putting  in  their  books, 
'Just  as  soon  as  you  get  the  elementary  princi- 
ples of  this  system  of  shorthand  into  your  nod- 
dle, go  to  work  and  phrase.'  The  most  infernal 
mistake  that  was  ever  made  by  authors  and 
teachers  of  shorthand  \  *  *  *  All  the  teach- 
ers from  Maine  to  San  Francisco  say,  'Just  as 
soon  as  you  learn  the  principles  of  shorthand, 
sit  down  and  learn  to  phrase;  you  will  have 
to,  if  you  wish  to  write  rapidly.'  I  defy  any 
one  to  do  it  to  any  great  extent  in  rapid  work. 
There  are  old  stereotyped  phrases  which 
almost  all  stenographers  use,  which  represent 
words  that  coalesce  as  easily  as  water  and 
whiskey;  and  that  is  the  phrasing  which  can 


172  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

be  done  with  readiness — which  does  not  retard 
speed." 

Let  me  state  some  of  the  objections  to  the 
study  of  the  art  of  extemporaneous  phrase- 
invention,  as  commonly  practiced. 

The  Learner's  Incompetence. 

1.  In  the  early  stages  of  stenographic  study, 
when  phrase-invention  is  too  often  undertaken, 
the  attempt  to  practice  this  art  is  particularly 
mistimed,  because  the  student  has  then  too  many 
other  things  to  think  of.  At  this  point  his  mind 
is  largely  taxed  by  the  effort  to  learn  or  recall 
the  common  logograms,  and  to  devise  proper 
forms  for  other  frequently-recurring  words.  He 
needs  to  have  the  unconnected  forms  of  ordinary 
words  fixed  in  his  mind  as  to  both  outline  and 
position.  But  in  phrasing,  the  normal  position 
of  many  words  is  constantly  varied.  To  the  ad- 
vanced stenographer,  this  offers  slight  embar- 
rassment. He  can  phrase  "you  may  think," 
"you  are  aware,"  "our  rights,"  without  dis- 
turbing in  his  memory  the  normal  location  of 
"think,"  "aware,"  and  "rights"  as  isolated 
words.  But  such  things  confuse  the  learner.  He 
has  another  trouble.  Not  only  accustomed  posi- 
tion, but  accustomed  outline  is,  in  phrasing,  per- 


MOST  INFERNAL  MISTAKE  EVER  MADE.  173 

mitted  to  be  varied.  The  commonly-recognized 
practice  by  which,  as  one  author  expresses  it, 
"many  words  are  lengthened  in  order  that  they 
may  be  joined  in  certain  phrases,"  requires 
stringent  limitations  at  the  hands  of  even  the 
advanced  stenographer.  But  even  if  it  be  not 
true  that  "invariability  of  outline  is  one  prime 
factor  of  speed" — even  if  it  be  assumed  that 
variability  of  outline  can  safely  be  indulged  in 
by  the  experienced  writer — the  mere  learner 
cannot  afford  to  have  word-forms  thus  unsettled. 
Who  can  doubt,  for  instance,  that  the  too-early 
writing  of  t-m  in  a  phrase  for  the  word  "time" 
must  delay  or  defeat  the  mastering  of  t  in  the 
first  position  as  a  logogram? 

2.  In  the  early  stage  at  which  phrasing  is 
usually  undertaken,  the  student  is  incompetent, 
with  all  the  guidance  that  much-vaunted  rules 
can  give  him,  to  distinguish  good  phrases  from 
bad.  If  encouraged  or  allowed  to  invent  phrases 
for  himself,  he  will  invent  many  more  bad  ones 
than  good  ones.  "Beginners,"  it  has  been  well 
remarked,  "take  much  longer  time  in  thinking 
out  inconvenient  and  illegible  joinings  than 
would  be  occupied  in  writing  the  words  sepa- 
rately"; they  undertake  to  "join   every  word 


174  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

that  is  physically  capable  of  uniting  with  an- 
other." 

The  stenographic  beginner  (and  in  this  term 
I  include  every  one  who  has  not  attained  a 
speed  of  80  to  100  words  a  minute)  is  no  more 
competent  to  invent  phrases  than  to  invent  word- 
signs.  No  one  proposes  to  set  the  learner  adrift 
to  invent  his  own  word-signs;  yet  as  between 
the  invention  of  phrases  and  the  invention  of 
word-signs,  the  former  is  much  more  difficult. 
For  phrase-invention  many  indefinite,  abstruse, 
elaborate  rules  are  deemed  necessary;  but  the 
whole  science  of  word-sign  invention  might  be 
compressed  into  this  single  sentence:  Let  the 
word  for  which  a  word-sign  is  sought  be  a  com- 
mon word  of  long  and  difficult  outline ;  and  let 
the  sign  adopted  be  brief,  unambiguous  and 
easily  written.  Why  should  not  the  learner,  who 
is  assumed  to  be  able  to  undertake  the  difficult 
task  of  phrase-invention,  be  set  to  work  with 
this  simple  rule  to  construct  his  own  word-signs? 

What  is  the  character  of  the  phrasing  rules 
which  the  shorthand  student,  with  an  experi- 
ence of  a  few  weeks  or  months,  is  expected  to 
apply  for  himself?  He  is  enjoined,  for  instance, 
to  avoid  phrases  which  involve  awkward  junc- 


MOST  INFERNAL  MISTAKE  EVER  MADE.  175 

tions;  but  his  immature  judgment  is  not  com- 
petent to  determine  whether  a  particular  junc- 
tion is  awkward  enough  to  be  condemned  by  the 
rules.  He  is  enjoined  not  to  make  phrases  too 
long;  but  how  many  words  make  a  phrase  "too 
long,"  he  can  not  tell.  He  is  told  not  to  write 
any  phrase  which  might  possibly  be  confounded 
with  a  single  word-form  or  with  another  phrase ; 
but  his  familiarity  with  other  word-signs  and 
other  phrases  is  too  limited  and  narrow  to  en- 
able him  to  apply  this  rule  intelligently. 

In  his  early  and  misjudged  attempts  to  make 
phrases  for  himself,  the  student,  despite  the 
most  careful  study  of  phrasing  rules,  makes  and 
tolerates  phrases,  whose  awkwardness  and  neces- 
sary slowness  he  is  incompetent  to  recognize — 
phrases  which  no  reporter  would  or  could  use. 
Thus  his  judgment  is  so  vitiated  and  blunted 
that  in  many  cases  the  art  of  making  good 
phrases  is  never  acquired.  That  "cultivated  in- 
stinct," which  later  ought  to  enable  him  to  dis- 
tinguish intuitively  between  good  phrases  and 
bad,  has  no  opportunity  for  healthy  growth. 

3.  By  reason  of  the  pauses  which  he  con- 
stantly makes  to  decide  whether  given  words 
should  or  should  not  be  joined,  he  contracts  a 


176  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

slow,  jerky,  spasmodic  movement  of  the  hand, 
inconsistent  with  that  steady,  pauseless  motion 
which  has  been  described  in  a  previous  chapter 
as  the  characteristic  of  the  speedy  writer.  Says 
a  stenographer  of  the  widest  experience  and 
soundest  judgment :  "I  have  seen  young  report- 
ers laboriously  stringing  words  together,  not 
flowingly  and  easily,  but  by  a  series  of  uncom- 
fortable jerks  and  twists  that  were  painful  to 
contemplate,  and  seemed  to  threaten  an  attack 
of  writer's  cramp." 

The  Phrase=Seeking  Mania. 

4,  In  these  early  attempts  at  phrase-invention 
the  student  is  in  peril  of  acquiring  the  phrase- 
seeking  mania — that  state  of  mind  which  con- 
stantly inquires,  as  the  pen  passes  from  char- 
acter to  character,  whether  there  lurks  in  them 
some  possibility  of  being  joined.  There  can  be 
no  more  deplorable  state  of  mind  for  any  would- 
be  stenographer  than  a  ceaseless  anxiety  to  dis- 
cover, as  words  are  uttered,  opportunities  for 
phrasing.  This  habit  of  mind,  once  acquired,  is 
extremely  ditficult  to  eradicate,  and  if  not 
eradicated,  is  fatal  to  speed.  It  might  almost 
be  said  that  the  question  whether  a  person  is 


MOST  INFERNAL  MISTAKE  EVER  MADE.  177 

to  attain  even  moderate  speed  depends  largely 
upon  whether  he  acquires  or  escapes  the  habit 
of  phrase-seeking. 

The  loss  of  time  which  this  habit  entails  is 
almost  incalculable.  Word-groups  which  do  not 
admit  of  any  equivalent  sign-groups  are  far 
more  numerous  than  those  which  do.  The  phrase- 
seeker,  as  he  proceeds,  must  give  some  measure 
of  thought  to  each  impracticable  or  undesirable 
joining  that  may  occur  to  him;  he  must  take 
time  in  deciding,  with  more  or  less  thought,  that 
it  is  impracticable  or  undesirable.  Of  course,  a 
writer  who  thus  loses  time  must  write  slowly. 

5.  The  phrase-seeker,  though  aiming  to  ac- 
quire, is  not  acquiring,  a  correct  reporting  style. 
He  is  not  learning  to  think  as  reporters  think 
or  to  write  as  reporters  write.  Phrase-seeking 
is  not  a  reporting  habit.  The  reporter  uses 
phrases,  few  or  many,  varying  according  to  his 
personal  peculiarities  and  education;  but  the 
successful  reporter  is  never  a  phrase-seeker. 

6.  By  the  waste  of  time  upon  the  study  of 
phrase-invention,  the  student's  final  attainment 
of  amanuensis  or  reporting  skill  is  always  de- 
layed, often  defeated.  The  time  wastefully  and 
fruitlessly  spent  by  young  writers  in  the  study 


178  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

of  phrase-invention  accounts  largely  for  the  fact 
that  so  much  labor  in  shorthand  study  shows 
generally  so  little  result  in  speed  acquired. 
Many  a  student,  because  the  phrase-seeking  habit 
fastens  itself  upon  him,  becomes  for  all  time 
a  slower  writer  than  he  might  have  been  if  he 
had  never  known  there  was  such  a  thing  as 
phrasing. 

7.  The  phrase-seeking  habit  prevents  that  au- 
tomatic, or  almost  automatic,  action  of  mind 
and  hand  which  must  be  thoroughly  established 
before  high  speed  can  be  attained.  Instead  of 
cultivating  the  habit  of  anxiously  searching  for 
phrases,  the  young  writer,  if  he  would  become 
a  reporter,  must  aim  to  banish,  during  his 
attempts  at  speedy  writing,  all  anxious  thought 
or  effort,  remembering  that  the  acme  of  steno- 
graphic success  is  not  attained  until,  in  the  apt 
language  of  Mr.  Irland,  "shorthand  becomes 
only  a  swifter  longhand,  as  plain  and  as  effort- 
less— when  the  fingers  become  automatic  record- 
ing agents,  making  as  perfect  a  record,  with  as 
little  effort,  as  the  pencil  of  a  self-registering 
wind-gauge. ' ' 


PRACTICAL  SUGGESTIONS 
ABOUT  PHRASING. 


Memorizing  Phrases. 

1.  As  the  stock  of  phrases  which  the  writer  is 
to  use  will  consist  mainly  of  the  common-place, 
every-day  phrases  of  ordinary  speech,  he  must 
Contract  at  the  beginning  no  habits  which  may 
interfere  with  the  ready  use  of  such  phrases. 
The  beginner  must  not  allow  himself,  nor  must 
he  be  allowed,  to  write  separately  words  which 
ultimately  he  should  write  constantly  together. 
To  this  extent  he  not  only  may,  but  must, 
phrase.  There  are  certain  commonplace  phrases 
which  no  reporter  ever  writes  as  separate  words, 
and  which,  therefore,  no  student  should  ever 
thus  write.  If  in  the  early  stages  of  his  short- 
hand education  he  writes  "I  do,"  "you  may," 
"will  be,"  etc.,  as  separated  words,  the  habit  of 
doing  so  may  later  prove  very  hard  to  eradicate. 
In  learning  from  the  start  to  write  for  such  com- 
mon word-groups  their  accepted  sign-groups,  the 
student  accumulates  gradually  that  goodly  stock 

179 


180  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

of  every-day  phrases  which  is  to  stand  him  in 
good  stead  during  every  future  hour  of  his  re- 
porting experience. 

2.  But,  instead  of  depending  upon  inciden- 
tally meeting  the  phrases  which  he  is  to  memorize 
as  a  part  of  his  stock  in  trade,  he  should  have 
placed  before  him  in  special  lists  and  in  reason- 
able quantity,  from  day  to  day  and  from  week 
to  week,  that  limited  number  of  phrases  which 
experience  has  shown  it  to  be  worth  every  stu- 
dent's while  to  memorize.  The  gradual  storing 
of  the  memory  with  a  limited  number  of  useful 
phrase-signs  is  just  as  reasonable  and  necessary 
as  the  memorizing  of  useful  word-signs.  The 
phrases  selected  for  this  purpose  should  be  those 
which  occur  most  constantly  in  all  kinds  of  mat- 
ter, and  will,  therefore,  be  the  most  useful  to  the 
amanuensis  or  the  reporter — *' those  stereotyped 
phrases  which  all  reporters  use,  which  represent 
words  that  coalesce  as  easily  as  whiskey  and 
water."  The  useful  phrases  which  are  thus  to 
be  memorized  I  would  not  permit  the  student  to 
invent,  or  even  select,  for  himself.  His  imper- 
fect stenographic  education  and  his  immature 
judgment  disqualify  him  for  deciding  what 
phrases  are  useful  enough  to  be  worth  memoriz- 
ing. 


SUGGESTIONS    ABOUT    PHRASING        181 

The  aggregate  number  of  phrases  which  the 
student  will  need  to  memorize  as  a  necessary 
part  of  his  shorthand  equipment  is  not  formid- 
able ;  on  the  contrary,  I  believe  the  number  will 
be  found  surprisingly  small — perhaps  not  more 
than  four,  five  or  six  hundred,  all  told.  They 
should  be  such  as,  when  learned,  will  be  kept 
fresh  in  the  writer's  memory  by  constant  recur- 
rence. As  the  editor  of  the  "Phonetic  Journal" 
has  remarked  in  words  already  quoted,  "A 
phrase,  however  good  it  may  be,  if  it  be  one  that 
the  writer  does  not  have  occasion  to  use  fre- 
quently, will  not  come  to  his  mind  [when 
needed]  with  sufficient  celerity  to  be  available." 
To  undertake  to  memorize  phrases  by  the  thou- 
sands is  a  sad  mistake,  because  such  elaborate 
lists  can  never  be  memorized  thoroughly;  and 
as  already  urged,  the  imperfect  memorizing  of 
anything  which  is  to  be  of  use  in  shorthand  is 
always  worse  than  never  undertaking  to  mem- 
orize it  at  all.  Overloading  the  memory  is  one 
of  the  most  common  and  most  natural  errors  con- 
nected with  the  study  of  shorthand.  Certain 
advertisements  offer  to  the  student  "five  thou- 
sand lightning  phrases,"  the  memorizing  of 
which,   as  the   author  of   the   book   alluringly 


182  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

promises,  will  have  an  almost  magical  effect  in 
making  the  student  a  reporter.  The  innocent 
purchaser  of  such  voluminous  collections  of 
phrases  does  not  know  that  no  living  reporter 
has  ever  memorized  five  thousand  phrases. 

Premature  Phrase-Invention  Forbidden. 

3.  If  the  tyro  is  to  escape  the  dangers  of  the 
phrasing  mania,  he  must  not  permit  his  mind 
to  be  occupied  while  he  writes,  with  a  straining 
effort  to  join  words  which  come  together  rarely 
and  casually.  Immature  writers  do  themselves 
great  harm  by  premature  attempts  to  originate 
phrases.  The  phrasing  habit  which  is  to  be  cul- 
tivated as  a  preparation  for  reporting  is  the 
writin.G;  of  familiar  phrases  with  the  very  great- 
est rapidity — not  the  invention  of  phrases  on  the 
spur  of  the  moment.  When  the  proper  stage 
has  been  reached,  the  fortunate  writer  who  may 
possess  the  faculties  requisite  for  successfully 
practicing  the  art  of  off-hand  phrase-invention, 
will  find  that  graceful,  safe,  time-saving  phrases 
will  literally  suggest  themselves.  A  "cultivated 
instinct"  will  guide  mind  and  hand  promptly 
and  unerringly,  though  abstract  phrasing  rules 
may  never  have  been  learned. 


SUGGESTIONS  ABOUT  PHRASING.        183 

Spurious  "Reporting  Style." 

4.  The  learner  should  be  especially  on  his 
guard  against  the  misleading  and  corrupting 
influence  of  artificially-constructed  specimens  of 
so-called  "reporting  style,"  abounding  in  far- 
fetched and  (in  practice)  impossible  phrases, 
gotten  up  at  leisure  by  text-book  makers  and 
"system"  mongers.  The  student,  in  aiming  to 
join  words  which  occur  together  only  once  in  a 
lifetime,  is  not  cultivating  reporting  habits;  he 
is  undertaking  to  do  what  no  reporter  (unless 
an  individual  of  very  exceptional  genius)  does 
or  can  do  in  rapid  writing.  As  already  pointed 
out,  the  commonest,  and,  in  very  rapid  writing, 
almost  the  only  phrases  used  by  the  reporter  are 
those  representing  the  over-and-over-again  com- 
binations of  every-day  speech. 

5.  The  student  should  without  ceasing  strive 
to  abandon,  if  he  has  contracted  it,  the  habit  of 
phrase-seeking.  Throwing  to  the  winds  such 
advice  as  that  already  quoted,  let  him  not,  "in 
all  his  practice,  carefully  watch  for  and  study 
every  opportunity  for  useful  phrasing  that  may 
be  afforded  by  the  matter  he  is  writing."  Let 
him  pay  no  regard  to  the  injunction,  "If  neces- 
sary to  write  slowly  in  order  to  secure  the  use 


184  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

of  phrases,  then,  without  question,  it  is  proper 
that  the  student,  in  a  considerable  portion  of 
his  daily  practice,  should  write  slowly."  Let 
him  avoid  especially  one  common  incident  of 
the  phrase-making  mania, — voluntarilj'^  falling 
behind  the  speaker  in  order  that  phrases  may 
be  thought  out. 

"Playful  Stenographic  Gymnastics." 

6.  Nor  must  the  student  be  misled  by  some 
remarkable  phrases  which  he  may  occasionally 
discover  in  bona  fide  reporting  notes,  taken  very 
slowly  or  at  only  moderate  speed.  Such  notes, 
while  showing  (if  from  the  hands  of  an  expert) 
natural  and  artistic  extemporized  phrases,  show 
also  occasionally  some  outlandish,  inartistic 
phrases,  which  would  not  be  indulged  in  if  the 
speaking  Avere  rapid.  It  sometimes  happens 
that,  merely  to  relieve  the  tedium  of  a  slowly- 
uttered  speech,  the  reporter,  in  a  spirit,  as  it 
were,  of  playfulness  or  caprice,  resorts  to  phras- 
ing expedients  which  his  own  deliberate  judg- 
ment would  not  sanction  and  which  he  would  be 
the  last  one  to  hold  up  as  models  for  imitation. 
Speaking  of  the  whim  that  sometimes  tempts  a 
reporter  to  indulge  in  these  fantastic  and  abnor- 


SUGGESTIONS   ABOUT  PHRASING.         185 

mal  phrasings,  Thomas  Allen  Reed  remarks:  "I 
have  sometimes  tried  my  hand  in  actual  report- 
ing at  writing  these  long  phraseograms,  not  be- 
cause I  approve  of  the  practice,  but  simply  for 
amasement ;  and  my  note-books  accordingly  con- 
tain here  and  there  some  of  the  most  appalling 
characters  that  ever  met  the  eye.  Note-taking 
is  generally  too  serious  business  to  admit  of  in- 
dulgence in  this  kind  of  entertainment;  but  it 
is  not,  perhaps,  surprising  that  one  occasionally 
endeavors  to  relieve  the  monotony  of  a  long  and 
dull  speech  by  some  playful  stenographic  gym- 
nastics. Such  phrases  are  anything  else  than 
aids  to  speed,  and  would  not  be  written  by  any 
man  in  his  senses,  except  as  a  matter  of  amuse- 
ment." 

7.  While  in  general  the  student  should  make 
no  attempt  at  phrase-invention,  he  should  be  on 
the  alert  for  what  have  been  described  as  recur- 
rent phrases.  If  he  finds  that,  in  any  particular 
line  of  work  or  practice,  certain  words  occur 
together  frequently,  let  him  join  them,  if  they 
admit  of  ready  junction.  No  one  should  fail  to 
make  the  phrases  which  his  daily  work  invites 
him  to  make.  It  is  important  that  recurrent 
word-groups,    which    are    usually    spoken    with 


186  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

more  than  average  rapidity  (the  different  words 
of  the  phrase  being  blended  like  the  syllables  of 
a  single  word)  should  be  represented  by  facile 
sign-groups.  The  essence  of  practical  phrasing 
has  been  well  expressed  by  a  veteran  reporter  in 
this  language:  "Whenever  two  or  more  words 
occur  in  juxtaposition  frequently  and  can  be 
joined  without  an  effort,  I  make  a  phrase." 

Phrasing  Rules   Overvalued. 

8.  The  student  should  not  expect  to  acquire 
the  art  of  phrasing  by  the  mere  study  of  phras- 
ing rules,  most  of  which,  as  already  shown,  are 
so  general,  or  so  abstruse,  or  so  variable  as  to 
give  very  little  practical  aid.  I  do  not  believe 
an}'  accomplished  reporter  who  phrases  judi- 
ciously and  aptly,  ever  acquired  any  consider- 
able portion  of  his  skill  by  the  study  of  phrasing 
rules.  Nothing  but  study  and  practice  of  nor- 
mal phrase-models,  selected  by  practical  men 
from  practical  work,  can  give  one  that  "culti- 
vated instinct"  which  will  almost  intuitively 
adopt  good  junctions  and  unhesitatingly  avoid 
bad  ones. 

The  Law  of  Automatism. 

9.  To  achieve  phrases  by  varying  established 
word-forms  or  elongating  established  word-signs, 


SUGGESTIONS  ABOUT  PHRASING.        187 

violates  what  I  believe  should  be  accepted  as  a 
maxim, — "Invariability  of  outline  is  a  prime 
factor  of  speed."  To  allow  one's  self  to  write 
a  word  in  several  different  ways  to  gratify  a 
momentary  whim  or  to  achieve  some  tempting 
phrase,  entails,  whenever  the  word  is  to  be  sepa- 
rately written,  a  certain  degree  of  hesitation, 
which  must  postpone  or  defeat  that  happy  con- 
dition— the  most  favorable  condition  to  high 
speed — when  mind  and  hand  shall  work,  as  it 
were,  automatically.  In  this  matter  there  is 
found  a  strong  analogy  between  shorthand  and 
longhand.  In  the  latter  no  one  attains  great 
speed  so  long  as  he  is  compelled  to  think  about 
the  spelling  of  the  words,  the  distinctions  be- 
tween capitals  and  small  letters,  the  proper  use 
of  punctuation-marks,  etc.  That  great  desidera- 
tum, automatism — "the  absolute  disengagement 
of  the  mind,  so  far  as  consciousness  is  concerned, 
from  the  process  of  writing" — cannot  be  at- 
tained or  approximated  except  by  cherishing  in 
every  way  uniformity  of  writing  habits.  With- 
out fixity  of  practice,  there  cannot  be  auto- 
matism; and  without  a  large  degree  of  automa- 
tism, there  cannot  be  speed.  Absolute  automa- 
tism may  not  be  attainable;  but  the  nearer  the 


188  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

writer  approaches  it  (other  things  being  equal) 
the  greater  the  rapidity  he  will  reach. 

One  of  the  ways  in  which  uniformity  of  out- 
line is  commonly  sacrificed  is  by  writing  for 
phrase  purposes  a  full  outline  instead  of  an  ac- 
customed w^ord-sign.  For  instance,  the  word 
"number,"  ordinarily  expressed  by  a  logogram, 
is  by  some  authors  elongated  exceptionally,  in 
order  to  make  possible  the  phrase  "this  num- 
ber." So,  too,  we  read  in  one  of  the  standard 
phrase-books:  "When  'belong'  is  joined  to  a 
preceding  stem,  it  should  be  written  in  full, 
because  its  abbreviation  hi  in  such  cases  would 
conflict  with  'believe.'  "*  The  momentary  gain, 
if  any,  by  writing  phrases  which  thus  violate 
uniformity  of  outline,  is  much  more  than  coun- 
terbalanced by  the  writer's  inevitable  hesitation 
when  he  undertakes  to  write  separately,  with  its 
briefer  sign,  the  word  which  for  phrase-purposes 
has  been  elongated.  The  usual  result  is  that  he 
finally  comes  to  write  the  longer  form  under  all 
circumstances.  And  thus  a  useful  word-sign  is 
obliterated  from  his  system. 

Uniformity  of  word-outline  is,  in  the  second 
place,   violated   when   a   full   outline   of   excep- 


*ThPse  remarks  apply  to  Pitmanic  Shorthand  only. — The 
PuMishers. 


SUGGESTIONS  ABOUT  PHRASING.        189 

tional  construction  is  substituted  for  the  out- 
line which  usage  has  established  as  the  best. 
For  instance,  in  order  to  achieve  the  phrase  "in 
his  letter,"  some  authors  write  the  last  word  of 
the  phrase  (contrary  to  the  settled  form  of  the 
separate  word)  with  downward  I.  So,  too,  in 
order  to  malie  possible  or  convenient  the  phrase 
"in  this  life,"  the  downward  form  of  I  is  used 
in  the  word  "life,"  in  place  of  the  accustomed 
upward  form. 

One  author  violates  the  law  of  uniformity, 
and  consequently  the  law  of  automatism,  by  giv- 
ing for  phrase  purposes  three  different  methods 
of  writing  the  frequent  word  "him."  If  we 
follow  his  authority,  this  very  common  word  is 
to  be  written,  according  to  circumstances,  either 
with  a  hook,  a  tick,  or  a  full  consonant  stroke. 
Here  is  the  author 's  language :  "  If  for  any  rea- 
son 'him'  cannot  be  conveniently  indicated  by 
the  m  hook,  it  should  be  written  with  'hay';  but 
where  the  preceding  stem  bears  a  final  hook,  it 
may  sometimes  be  indicated  by  a  final  tick, 
struck  at  an  acute  angle."  Another  author 
gives  four  different  methods  of  expressing  the 
very  common  word  "to":  1,  By  the  stem  t  in 
the  third  position;  2,  by  halving  the  stem  of 


190  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

the  preceding  word ;  3,  by  changing  the  s  circle 
at  the  end  of  the  preceding  word  to  a  small  loop ; 
or,  4,  by  dropping  the  form  of  the  succeeding 
word  one-half  the  length  of  the  t  below  the 
third  position  of  the  same  word.  It  seems  to 
me  too  obvious  for  argument  that  an  attempt 
to  write  by  variable  methods  common  words 
like  "him,"  "to,"  etc.,  must,  with  any  ordinary 
writer,  cause  hesitation  and  loss  of  speed.  Un- 
less one's  methods  of  writing  be  reduced  to  set- 
tled and  uniform  laws,  automatism,  with  the 
promptness,  ease  and  rapidity  which  attend  it, 
can  never  be  attained. 

Needless  Vocalization. 

10.  As  another  means  of  establishing  uniform 
habits  and  cultivating  automatism,  the  student 
should  make  it  a  rule  never  to  use  in  a  phrase 
a  form  which,  thus  used,  requires  to  be  vocalized, 
though  when  standing  alone  it  needs  no  vocal- 
ization. The  expected  gain  from  avoiding  a  pen- 
lift  becomes  utterly  delusive  when  the  avoid- 
ance entails  an  extra  movement,  frequently  a 
backward  movement,  for  the  insertion  of  a 
vowel.  In  most  cases  the  final  effect  of  indul- 
ging in  such  phrases  is  that  the  word  is  con- 


SUGGESTIONS  ABOUT  PHRASING.         191 

stantly  vocalized,  even  when  standing  alone  and 
when  vocalization  is  unnecessary.  Thus  for  the 
sake  of  an  occasional  phrase,  time  is  lost  in  per- 
haps hundreds  of  instances  by  needless  writing 
of  vowels. 

11.  If  a  given  word-group  has  assigned  to  it 
a  given  sign-group,  let  that  sign-group  be  used 
uniformly.  To  write  words  sometimes  as  a 
phrase  and  sometimes  with  their  separated 
forms,  interferes  with  uniformity  of  habit  and 
nurtures  hesitation. 

Don't  Sacrifice  Safety  for  Speed. 

12.  Still  further  seeking  fixity  of  practice,  the 
student  may  wisely  omit  to  learn  or  practice 
phrasing  expedients  which  are  recommended  to 
be  used  or  not  used,  according  as  the  context 
may  make  them  safe  or  unsafe.  I  extract  from 
various  text-books  illustrations  of  these  unde- 
sirable expedients: 

"  'Was  it'  may  generally  be  written  with  the 
half-length  zd  in  the  first  position,  the  same  as 
*as  it,'  with  which  it  does  not  often  conflict. 
*  *  *  To  avoid  the  possibility  of  conflict, 
some  reporters  always  write  'was  it'  in  full, 
which  interferes  with  fluent  phrasing." 


192  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

**  'Other'  may  be  added  by  lengthening  when 
it  would  not  be  mistaken  for  'there.'  "* 

' '  '  Had '  and  '  do '  may  generally  with  safety  be 
written  d  in  any  part  of  a  phrase;  but  if  there 
should  arise  any  conflict,  'do'  should  be  dis- 
joined, leaving  the  field  to  'had.'  "* 

"  'Us,'  when  added  by  a  circle  to  verbs,  will 
sometimes  conflict  with  another  form  of  the 
verb,  as  'give  us'  with  'gives,'  'put  us'  with 
'puts,'  etc.,  and  should,  therefore,  be  used  cau- 
tioKsly,  and  when  in  doubt  as  to  its  safety,  the 
writer  should  employ  the  stem  s."* 

"The  omission  of  'to'  when  it  precedes  a 
stroke  to  which  it  could  not  properly  be  joined, 
may  be  intimated  in  the  reporting  style  by  com- 
mencing that  stroke  at  the  line  of  writing,  pro- 
vided that  the  word  so  written  would  not  be 
liable  to  be  mistaken  for  some  other  word  in 
the  third  position."* 

By  such  expedients  as  these,  the  young  re- 
porter is  invited  to  seek  brevity  by  dubious  and 
dangerous  methods.  He  should  firmly  steel 
himself  against  the  temptation.  Methods  of 
writing  which  are  sometimes  unsafe  must  be 
avoided  alwavs.     Few  writers  can  in  the  midst 


*ThPse  remarks  apply  to  Pitmanic  Shorthand. — The  Pub- 
lishers. 


SUGGESTIONS   ABOUT   PHRASING.         19C 

of  rapid  note-taking  depart  from  their  ordinary 
habits.  And  even  if  the  writer's  mind  be  so 
alert  as  to  give  the  danger-signal  whenever  an 
accustomed  method  of  writing  would  prove 
hazardous,  the  general  habit  cannot  be  given  up 
in  a  particular  case  without  hesitation,  with  loss 
of  time  which  may  be  fatal. 

Example  is  Better  than  Precept. 

13.  After  zealous  study  the  student  may,  and 
doubtless  will,  find  that  his  efforts  at  speed 
writing  show  fewer  phrases  than  similar  matter 
in  his  text-book.  But  this  should  not  dishearten 
him.  It  has  been  remarked  by  the  most  eminent 
of  English  stenographers  that  some  of  the  best 
reporters  within  his  acquaintance  indulge  in 
phrasing  very  sparingly.  It  is  far  better  to 
phrase  too  little  than  too  much ;  and  let  it  never 
be  forgotten  that  phonetic  shorthand,  though 
written  with  a  limited  infusion  of  phrases,  is  in 
apt  hands  capable  of  great  speed. 

14.  In  order  that  the  student  may  deeply  im- 
press upon  his  mind  the  conservative  methods 
of  accomplished  reporters  in  respect  to  phrasing, 
and  realize  how  far  they  fall  short  of  the  exces- 
sive and  extreme  methods  of  phrasing  so  often 


194  THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED. 

exhibited  in  text-book  specimens  of  "the  report- 
ing style,"  let  him  lose  no  opportunity  to  study 
the  speedily-written  notes  of  leading  members 
of  the  reporting  profession. 


Gregg  Shorthand  AVins 

International  Shorthand  Speed  Contest 


p  REGG  SHORTHAND  won 
^^  a  sweeping  victory  in  the 
Fifth  International  Shorthand 
Speed  Contest,  held  at  Wash- 
ington, March  26,  1910. 

Writers  of  Gregg  Shorthand 
won  first,  second  and  third 
places. 

Of  the  eighteen  contestants 
who  entered,  fourteen  were 
writers  of  Pitmanic  shorthand, 
and  four  were  writers  of  Gregg 
Shorthand. 

Every  one  of  the  Gregg  writers 
qualified  in  the  transcribing. 

One  of  the  Gregg  writers 
qualified  on  two  transcripts  with- 
in the  allotted  time,  one  of  which 
won  second  place. 

Ten  of  the  fourteen  writers  of 
Pitmanic  shorthand  were  dis- 
qualified iox  inaccuracy  ox  failed 
absolutely  in  their  attempt  to 
transcribe  their  notes. 


World's  Records  Established 

'T'HE  winner  exceeded  the  best 
■■■    previous  record  on  non-court 
matter  in  the  International  Con- 
tests for  the   Miner  Medal  by 
twenty-three  words  per  minute. 
The  winner  of  second  place 
made  the  best  record  ever  made 
by  one  of  his  age  and  experience. 
The  winner  of  third  place  es- 
tablished a  world  s  record  for 
The  MINER  MEDAL     (^^curacy-^^.  4  per  cent,  perfect, 
won  permanently  by  Every  claim  for  Gregg  Short- 

FRED  H.  GURTLER  hand  was  overwhelmingly  prov- 

a  writer  of  Gregg  Shorthand     ed  in  the  Washington  contest. 

The  Gregg  Publishing  Compeuiy 

NEW  YORK CHICAGO 


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'PRACTICAL  COURT  REPORTING" 

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"COURT  REPORTING" 

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'PRACTICAL  POINTERS 

FOR  SHORTHAND  STUDENTS" 

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EXPERT  SHORTHAND 
SPEED  COURSE 


The  method  and  matter  used 
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ants for  the  Fifth  International 
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THE  Expert  Shorthand  Speed  Course  gives  the 
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256  Pages.  Price  One  Dollar 


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Gregg  Shorthand  Phrase  Book 


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GREGG  SHORTHAND  MANUAL.     Bound  in  cloth. .  .|1.50 

PROGRESSIVE  EXERCISES  IN  GREGG  SHORT- 
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GRADED  DICTATION.  By  Walter  Rasmussen.  A  com- 
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THE  GREGG  REPORTER.  By  John  R.  Greggr.  A 
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GREGG  SHORTHAND  DICTIONARY.  Contains  the 
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LESSONS  IN  SHORTHAND  PENMANSHIP.     By  John 

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PRACTICAL  DRILLS  IN  SHORTHAND  PENMAN- 
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FACTORS  OP  SUCCESS.  Compiled  by  H.  T.  Whit- 
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PRACTICAL  POINTERS  POR  SHORTHAND  STU- 
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LETTERS  OF  A  SELF-MADE  MERCHANT  TO  HIS 
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RATIONAL  TYPEWRITING.  By  Ida  McLenan  Cutler 
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APPLIED  BUSINESS  PUNCTUATION.    By  Hubert  A. 

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ENGLISH— PROGRESSIVE  STUDIES.  By  Frances 
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the  essentials  of  English 75' 

THE  FACTORS  OF  SHORTHAND  SPEED.  By  David 
Wolfe  Brown,  late  Official  Reporter,  U.  S.  House  of 
Representatives.     Cloth  ;   190  pages 75 

THE  GREGG  WRITER.  A  monthly  magazine,  con- 
taining a  "Learners'  Department,"  with  numerous 
helpful  suggestions  for  students,  advanced  writ- 
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scription  per   year 1.00 

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New  York  Chicago 


THE  GREGG 
WRITER 


^  Monthly  Magazine  Devoted  to  Shorthand, 

Typewriting  and  Commercial  Education 

VOL.  XII.    No.  7  MARCH  1910 


Contains  a  "Learners^  Department,"  with  numerous  helpful  suggestions  for  students, 
advanced  reading  and  writing  exercises,  a  "Reporters'  Department,"  etc. 

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This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


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